THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF 

ANNE   OF   AUSTRIA 


THE 

MARRIED    LIFE   OF 
ANNE   OF  AUSTBIA 

QUEEN  OF  FRANCE,  MOTHER  OF  LOUIS  XIV 

BY 

MARTHA  WALKER  FREER 


NEW  AND    REVISED   EDITION 


NEW  YORK 

BRENTANO'S 

1913 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  I.     1612-1617 

ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  AND  LOUIS  XIII  1 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  ONE  36 

CHAPTER  II.     1617-1625 

ANNE    OF    AUSTRIA    AND    THE    DUKE    OF 

BUCKINGHAM  39 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  TWO  90 

CHAPTER  III.     1626 

ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  AND  THE   CONSPIRACY 

OF  THE  PRINCE  DE  CHALAIS  94 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  THREE  1  39 

CHAPTER  IV.     1626-1630 

ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  AND  MARIE  DE'  MEDICI     144 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  FOUR  205 

CHAPTER  V.     1630-1631 

AXNE    OF    AUSTRIA    AND    MADEMOISELLE 

DE  HAUTEFORT  211 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  FIVE  258 

CHAPTER  VI.     1631-1637 

ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA,  MADEMOISELLE  DE 
LA  FAYETTE,  AND  THE  DUCHESS  DE 
CHEVREUSE  263 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  SIX  329 

CHAPTER  VII.     1637 

ANNE    OF    AUSTRIA   AND    THE    CARDINAL 

DE  RICHELIEU  333 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  SEVEN  401 

CHAPTER  VIII.     1637-1639 

ANNE     OF     AUSTRIA,     MOTHER     OF     THE 

DAUPHIN  405 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  EIGHT  468 

V 


2055194 


vi  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  IX.     1639-1642 

ANNE     OF    AUSTRIA    AND    THE    MARQUIS 

DE  CINQ-MARS  472 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  NINE  532 

CHAPTER  X.     1643 

ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  A  WIDOW  538 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  TEN  566 

INDEX  569 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

AXXE  OK   AUSTRIA  Frontispiece 

From  a  painting  dune  immediately  on  her 
arrival  hi  France 

GEORGE  VILLIERS,  DUKE  OF  BUCKINGHAM         To  face  page,     76 
From  a  painting  after  ffnbens 

MARIE  DK'  MEDICI  „       „     230 

From  it  painting  by  Rubens  in  the  Prculo 

LOL-IS  XIII  „       „     456 

From  a  painting  by  Vouet  in  the  Louvre 

CARDINAL  RICHELIEU  „       „     354- 

From  a  painting  by  de.  Champaigns 


N.B. — The  above  illustrations  are  reproduced  by 
arrangement  with  Messrs.   Braun  and  Co.  of  Paris 


CHAPTER  I 
1612-1617 

ANNE    OF    AUSTRIA    AND    LOUIS    XIII 

ON  the  18th  of  March,  1612,  proclamation  was 
made  throughout  Paris  of  the  betrothal  of  Louis 
XIII.,  by  the  grace  of  God  King  of  France  and 
Navarre,  with  the  Infanta  Marie  Anne  Mauricette, 
daughter  of  Philip  III.,  King  of  Spain,  and  of 
Marguerite  of  Austria  ;  also  of  Madame  Elizabeth, 
eldest  daughter  of  Henri  Quatre  and  Marie  de' 
Medici,  sister  of  Louis  XIII.,  with  Don  Philip 
Prince  of  the  Asturias,  eldest  son  of  the  Catholic 
King. 

The  year  1612,  from  the  splendid  festivities 
which  ensued,  was  termed  L'ANNEE  DES 
MAGNIFICENCES. 

In  celebration  of  the  auspicious  event  of  the 
marriages,  a  carousal  was  holden  in  the  Place 
Royale  during  the  first  week  in  April,  which  was 
followed  by  a  succession  of  brilliant  fetes,  balls 
and  banquetings  at  the  Louvre,  at  Fontainebleau 
and  at  St.  Germain.  The  Spanish  Ambassador, 
Duque  de  Pastrana,  son  of  Ruy  Gomez  de  Silva, 
Prince  of  Eboly,  the  famous  favourite  of  Philip 
II.,  late  King  of  Spain,  arrived  in  state  at  the 
Louvre  and  saluted  the  youthful  bride  elect  of  the 
Prince  of  the  Asturias,  and  throughout  the 
festivities  he  gave  her  the  honours  due  to  the 


2  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1612- 

consort  of  the  heir  of  Spain.1  The  Duke  de  May  enne, 
Charles  de  Lorraine  Guise,  was  at  the  same  time 
despatched  to  the  court  of  Madrid  to  compliment 
the  young  Infanta  in  the  name  of  his  master  Louis 
XIII.,  and  to  express  the  earnest  desire  of  his 
Majesty  to  hasten  her  arrival  in  his  realm. 

By  the  signature  of  these  marriage  contracts, 
which  bound  the  realms  of  France  and  Spain  by 
double  matrimonial  alliance,  the  Regent  Marie 
de'  Medici  and  her  reactionary  faction  reversed 
the  policy  of  Henri  Quatre,  and  pardoned  the 
Spanish  cabinet  the  calamities  inflicted  on  the 
realm  by  the  wars  of  the  Holy  League,  and 
the  perfidious  intrigues  and  machinations  which 
had  finally  compassed  the  assassination  of  a  hero 
so  dear  to  France. 

In  1609  similar  overtures  for  the  marriage  of  the 
children  of  France  and  Spain  had  been  summarily 
rejected  by  Henri  IV.  Indeed,  Henry  testified  an 
invincible  aversion  for  such  alliance,  "  as  being  a 
step  impolitic,  and  likely  totally  to  alienate  the 
crowns ;  for,  as  the  grandeur  of  France  is  the  hu- 
miliation of  Spain,  no  concord  is  possible.  France 
can  never  forgive  the  woes  and  political  calamities 
inflicted  during  the  past  half  century  by  the 
government  of  Spain." 2  The  allies  towards  whom 
Henry  inclined  were  the  King  of  England,  the 
German  Protestant  Princes  and  the  Dutch  Re- 
public. The  secret  aim  of  his  policy  was  to  humble 
the  haughty  princes  of  Hapsburg  ;  to  break  the 
Spanish  yoke  from  the  neck  of  Europe  ;  to  curtail 
the  dominions  of  Austria,  by  exciting  to  revolt  and 


1617]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  3 

freedom  her  tributary  kingdoms  of  Hungary  and 
Bohemia  ;  and  by  maintaining  the  rights  of  the 
Electors  of  the  Germanic  Empire  to  choose  and 
proclaim  their  Imperial  Chief.  Marie  de'  Medici,  \ 
however,  brought  up  in  abject  veneration  for  the 
Spanish  monarchy,  and  actuated  by  intense  dis- 
trust of  the  ministers  and  friends  of  her  deceased 
husband,  adopted,  on  her  accession  to  the  regency, 
a  totally  different  policy.  The  vast  preparations 
and  edicts  of  Henri  IV.  for  the  campaign  which  his 
death  interrupted,  were  cancelled.  The  alliance  of 
England  was  for  the  moment  abandoned  ;  Sully 
was  disgraced ;  Concini  was  created  Marquis 
d'Ancre,  and  elevated  to  a  place  in  the  council ; 
while  the  Holy  See  received  assurances  of  the  de- 
votion of  the  Queen,  and  of  her  submission  to  the 
counsels  and  interest  of  his  Holiness.  These 
measures  were  followed  by  civil  disaffection  ;  the 
Prince  de  Conde,  the  Duke  de  Bouillon,  the  Con- 
stable de  Montmorency  and  the  Duke  de  Nevers 
retired  from  court  and  intrenched  themselves 
within  their  respective  governments.  "  France," 
said  they,  "  is  now  governed  in  Turkish  fashion 
by  that  scoundrel  and  traitor  the  Florentine  Con- 
cini, who  sells  by  auction  the  honours  of  the 
realm,  and  dares  to  set  his  plebeian  foot  on  the 
necks  of  the  chivalrous  captains  of  Henri  Quatre." 
Duplessis  Mornay,  "  the  pope  of  the  Calvinists," 
deemed  this  an  opportunity  not  to  be  neglected  : 
the  Huguenot  fortresses  therefore  soon  bristled 
with  arms,  and  Mornay,  exulting  already  in 
the  hope  of  success,  defied  the  menaces  of  the 


4  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1612- 

Regent,  and  the  more  conciliatory  overtures  of  his 
old  adversary  the  secretary  of  state,  Villeroy.  The 
government  of  Queen  Marie  thus  became  isolated, 
and  found  support  only  from  the  Duke  d'Epernon,3 
from  Soissons,  and  other  antagonists  of  the  late 
minister  Sully,  who,  for  power  at  court,  were 
content  to  connive  at  the  assumptions  of  Concini. 
At  issue  with  the  princes  of  the  blood  and  the 
more  potent  of  the  great  vassals  of  the  crown, 
with  the  Huguenots  of  the  realm,  and  with  the 
Protestant  princes  of  Europe — the  only  policy 
which  the  Regent  and  her  clique  could  oppose  to 
combinations  so  hostile,  was  alliance  offensive  and 
defensive  with  Spain.  The  Grand-Duke  of  Tus- 
cany,4 uncle  of  the  Queen,  undertook  to  make  the 
first  overtures  to  obtain  the  renewal  of  the  ancient 
alliance  of  the  crowns.  The  Duke  of  Lerma,6 
prime  minister  of  Philip  III.,  graciously  responded 
to  the  advance,  and  a  few  months  later  the 
double  alliance  between  the  children  of  France 
and  Spain  was  proposed  and  accepted. 

The  Infanta  Marie  Anne  Mauricette  was  born  in 
the  Escorial  on  the  22nd  of  September,  1601,  five 
days  before  her  future  consort,  Louis  XIII.  The 
Condesa  de  Altamira  was  her  governess,  and  had 
trained  her  in  habits  of  piety  and  in  courtly  de- 
voirs. Anne  was  a  fair  and  bonny  child,  the  darling 
of  the  ceremonioas  court  of  Madrid,  and  of  her 
father  and  her  gentle  mother,  Marguerite.6  She 
seems  never  to  have  been  consigned  to  the  dreary 
monotony  of  a  royal  nursery  establishment,  but 
appears  to  have  always  followed  the  queen  her 


1617]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  5 

mother.  At  the  masques  and  court  revels,  the 
dainty  little  Infanta  often  appeared  en  scene, 
drawn  by  two  diminutive  ponies  in  a  golden  car  ; 
or  upborne,  by  tiny  nymphs  of  her  own  age,  in  a 
mimic  conch-shell.  Anne  early  lost  her  virtuous 
mother,  who  died  at  Valladolid,  after  giving  birth 
to  a  third  daughter,  the  infanta  Marguerite — 
a  fatal  event,  preceded,  as  it  was  said,  by  the 
booming  of  the  mystic  Bell  of  Villela,7  which  was 
heard  throughout  the  peninsula.  Anne  was  eleven 
years  old  when  she  was  betrothed  to  Louis  XIII., 
and  thus  became  the  heroine  of  the  splendid  am- 
bassage  of  the  Duke  de  Mayenne.  The  Duke  was 
received  with  enthusiasm  by  the  Spanish  court, 
which,  perhaps,  remembered  that  his  father  and 
his  uncle  Henri,  Duke  de  Guise,  had  proved  them- 
selves to  be  better  subjects  of  Spain  than  loyal 
to  their  own  princes.  On  the  17th  of  July,  1612, 
Mayenne  was  presented  to  Philip  III.  by  the  Duke 
d'Uzeda.  His  Majesty,  by  a  great  stretch  of  con- 
descension, embraced  the  ambassador  cordially, 
and  presented  to  him  the  Prince  of  the  Asturias, 
who  stood  at  his  right,  as  the  future  husband  of 
Madame  Isabel  of  France.  The  marriage  contract, 
which  had  been  negotiated  in  Paris,  was  signed  on 
the  22nd  day  of  August,  after  final  revision  by  the 
Spanish  privy  council.  Philip  gave  his  daughter 
a  dowry  of  500,000  gold  crowns,  with  many  sumpt- 
uous jewels.  The  money  was  to  be  paid  to  the 
representative  of  his  Christian  Majesty,  on  the  day 
previous  to  the  celebration  of  the  marriage.  In 
case  the  most  serene  Infanta  became  a  widow,  it 


6  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [ieia- 

was  stipulated  that  she  was  to  return  to  Spain  in 
possession  of  her  dowry,  jewels  and  wardrobe. 
The  dower  given  by  Louis  XIII.  was  similar  to 
that  assigned  from  time  immemorial  to  the  queens- 
consort  of  France,  and  consisted  of  rich  lands  in 
Touraine  and  Le  Pays  Chartrain  ;  the  King  also 
made  gift  absolutely  to  his  future  consort  of  all  the 
jewels  and  precious  gauds  and  furniture  which 
she  might  accumulate  during  their  union.8  The 
pecuniary  settlements  being  thus  made  to  the 
satisfaction  of  King  Philip,  the  Infanta  was 
saluted  and  treated  as  Queen  of  France,  "  a  dig- 
nity which  her  Highness  accepts  with  marvellous 
dignity  and  gravity."  When  Mayenne  took  leave 
of  her  little  Majesty,  he  requested  that  she  would 
send  some  message  to  the  King,  her  consort. 
"  Give  his  Majesty  assurance,"  promptly  replied 
Dona  Ana,  "  that  I  am  very  impatient  to  be  with 
him."  "  Oh,  Madame  !  "  interposed  the  Condesa 
de  Altamira,  "  what  will  the  King  of  France  think 
when  he  is  informed  by  M.  le  Due  that  you  are  in 
such  a  hurry  to  be  married  ?  Madame,  I  entreat 
you  show  more  maidenly  reserve  !  "  "  Have  you 
not  always  taught  me  to  speak  the  truth,  Ma- 
dame ?  I  have  spoken,  and  shall  not  retract," 
retorted  the  young  Queen,  pettishly.9  She  then 
gave  the  ambassador  her  hand  to  kiss,  slowly 
tendering  it,  as  the  Duke  believed,  that  he  might 
observe  and  report  its  symmetry  and  delicate  hue. 
Three  months  previously,  on  the  same  day  of 
the  month,  Pastrana  had  saluted  Elizabeth,  the 
child-bride  of  the  Prince  of  the  Asturias,  in  the 


1617]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  7 

Louvre.  Madame  Elizabeth  wore  a  surcoat  and 
robe  of  carnation-coloured  satin,  a  cross  of  dia- 
monds and  a  chain  of  pearls.  "  M.  PAmbassa- 
deur,"  said  she,  as  Pastrana  bowed  before  her,  "  I 
thank  the  King  your  master  for  the  honour  which 
he  has  conferred  upon  me  in  giving  me  his  favour, 
and  I  receive  gladly  from  M.  le  Prince  assurances 
of  his  affection.  I  trust  to  render  myself  worthy 
of  both  the  one  and  the  other,  as  I  ought."10 

The  bridegroom  elect  of  Dona  Ana,  meantime, 
Louis,  son  of  the  great  Henry,  spent  a  wearisome 
youth  in  the  Louvre,  with  few  diversions  and  joys. 
The  unhappy  and  premature  death  of  Henri  IV. 
not  only  exercised  a  fatal  influence  over  the 
political  destinies  of  France,  but  deprived  his 
young  son  of  judicious  and  princely  training. 
The  miserable  jealousies  of  the  favourites  and  ad- 
visers of  Marie  de'  Medici,  likewise,  had  debarred 
the  boy-king  of  the  example  and  the  counsels  of 
his  father's  tried  and  wise  friends.  Instead  of 
being  inured  to  arms,  and  trained  in  gallant  ac- 
complishments, and  taught  the  self-denial  and 
magnanimity  becoming  his  kingly  station,  the 
unfortunate  Louis  was  confined  to  a  corner  of  the 
Louvre,  the  object  at  one  time  of  his  mother's  in- 
dulgent weakness,  at  others  the  victim  of  her 
caprice  and  passion.  The  young  king  was  of  a 
reserved  and  suspicious  temper,  sensitive  to  the 
slightest  ridicule  or  neglect,  having  a  memory  re- 
tentive of  petty  affronts.  His  household  was  not 
selected  with  a  view  to  correct  the  nervous  shy- 
ness and  overbearing  pride  of  his  character.  The 


8  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1612- 

fears  of  the  Queen,  and  the  ignoble  precaution  of 
her  servants  the  Marquis  d'Ancre  and  his  wife,  in- 
duced her  Majesty  to  choose  young  companions 
for  her  son  of  a  class  inferior  to  the  usual  entourage 
of  princes.  Such  noble  names  as  Rohan,  Guise, 
Montmorency,  Bouillon  and  La  Rochefoucault 
were  never  heard  amongst  the  playmates  of  Louis 
XIII.  His  chief  friends  were  the  three  brothers 
de  Luynes,11  sons  of  a  gentleman  of  Provence,  of 
the  town  of  Mornas,  whose  future  marvellous 
fortunes  rank  amongst  the  most  notable  instances 
on  record  of  dignities  conferred  by  royal  caprice. 
Louis,  nevertheless,  showed  aptitude  for  many 
boyish  pastime.  :  he  played  well  at  tennis,  showed 
keen  relish  for  the  pleasures  of  the  chase,  which, 
unfortunately,  he  was  allowed  only  to  indulge  by 
hunting  rabbits  in  the  garden  of  the  Tuileries.  He 
passionately  loved  music,  and  learned  to  play  on 
the  spinet  and  guitar.  He  also  amused  himself 
by  turning  ivory,  by  drawing  and  colouring  little 
pictures,  and  by  snaring  singing-birds.  His 
Majesty's  physician,  Jean  Herouard,  who  was  con- 
stantly in  waiting  in  the  royal  apartment,  kept  a 
curious  diary  of  the  doings  and  sayings  and  em- 
ployments of  his  royal  master,  so  minute  as  to 
become  ludicrous  when  the  learned  doctor  con- 
descended to  chronicle  the  names  of  the  viands 
served  daily  on  the  royal  table,  and  the  number 
of  times  his  Majesty  coughed  and  sneezed  during 
the  twenty-four  hours  !  The  boyhood  of  Louis 
XIII.,  however,  is  unveiled  by  these  daily  jot- 
tings, and  the  mystery  solved  why  the  son  of 


1617]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  9 

Henri  IV.  grew  up  to  become  the  most  timid, 
miserable,  suspicious  and  self -distrusting  mon- 
arch who  ever  filled  a  throne,  though  possessing 
capacity  and  some  appreciation  for  things  good, 
noble  and  true.  Herouard  writes  : 12 

"  Monday,  March  10,  1614.  His  Majesty  this 
morning  amused  himself  by  composing  doggrel 
verses,  and  gave  some  to  make  out  to  MM.  de 
Termes,  de  Courtenvault,  and  de  Montglat.  A 
young  wild  sow  was  fed  in  the  royal  kitchen  by 
Bonnet,  a  water-carrier,  who  was  killed  by  a  fall. 
The  little  sow  lamented  and  fretted  for  her  master, 
and  at  length  refused  to  eat  and  died  of  grief. 
The  King  thereupon  composed  the  following 
verse  : 

"  E  y  avait  en  ma  cuisine 
Une  petite  marcassine 
Laquelle  eat  morte  de  douleur 
D 'avoir  perdu  son  gouverneur  !  " 

"  Thursday,  20th.  The  King  played  at  tennis, 
and  then  went  to  the  room  of  Sieur  de  la  Chapelle, 
his  spinet-player. 

"  March  28th,  Good  Friday.  Heard  a  sermon  at 
two  o'clock  ;  after  dinner  his  Majesty  entered  his 
coach,  and  visited  the  Franciscan  and  Feuillan- 
tine  monasteries.  He  then  went  to  the  Tuileries, 
where  he  tasted  a  bunch  of  white  grapes.  He 
returned  to  the  Louvre  at  a  quarter  to  seven 
and  supped  upon  almond  milk  and  milk  gruel, 
eating  the  backs  of  two  large  soles.  His  Majesty 
said,  '  I  eat  this  fish  because  there  is  nothing 
else.' 

"  June  4>th.     His  Majesty  dined  at  Ruel.     At 


10  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1612- 

midday  the  King  rode  on  horseback,  and  shot, 
with  an  arquebuse,  a  quantity  of  little  birds.  He 
then  went  to  a  joiner's,  and  made  two  little  shrines 
of  his  own  design,  in  which  he  suspended  all  the 
little  birds. 

"  November  14th,  Friday.  His  Majesty  com- 
menced the  day  by  study.  As  his  lesson  appeared 
to  him  long  and  difficult,  he  asked  his  preceptor, 
M.  Fleurance,  '  If  I  were  to  promise  you  a 
bishopric,  pray  would  you  shorten  my  lesson  ?  ' 
4  No,  Sire,'  Soon  after  M.  de  Bellegarde  arrived. 
His  Majesty  gave  him  cordial  welcome  and 
conducted  him  to  the  Queen. 

"  November  20th.  After  supper  his  Majesty 
went  to  bed  at  nine  o'clock.  At  eleven  he  sud- 
denly rose  on  his  knees,  with  eyes  wide  open,  and, 
though  asleep,  called  out  loudly,  '  He  !  jouez  ! 
jouez  !  '  The  day  preceding  he  had  been  playing 
at  billiards  in  the  gallery  of  the  Louvre,  and 
afterwards  at  tennis. 

"  December  22nd.  His  Majesty  went  to  hunt 13 
on  the  plain  of  St.  Denis  ;  he  was  suffering  from 
toothache,  but  would  not  confess  it  for  fear  of 
losing  his  hunt.  On  his  return  his  Majesty  com- 
plained of  ear-ache,  and  a  plaster  of  ashes  of 
palm-leaves  and  vinegar  was  applied  behind  the 
ear.  The  inside  of  the  mouth  was  fomented  with 
a  decoction  of  vinegar  and  rose-leaves,  after  which 
the  pain  subsided. 

"  December  31st,  Wednesday.  The  King  con- 
fessed in  the  evening  to  le  P.  Cotton,  his  confessor 
and  preacher  in  ordinary,  in  order  to  touch,  on  the 


1617]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  11 

Feast  of  the  Circumcision,  330  sick  in  the  great 
gallery  of  the  Louvre." 

The  greater  part  of  this  Journal  is  still  in  manu- 
script. The  zealous  Herouard  continues,  in 
similar  fashion,  to  recite  the  smallest  trivialities 
of  the  life  of  his  royal  master,  with  a  minuteness 
which  defies  transcription.  The  extract  given 
records  some  of  the  incidents  of  the  daily  life  of 
Anne's  royal  bridegroom  the  year  before  the 
solemnization  of  their  nuptials. 

This  event  took  place  in  August  of  the  following 
year,  1615.  The  courts  of  France  and  Spain  put 
forth  their  utmost  splendour  to  do  honour  to  an 
occasion  so  august.  The  Duchess  de  Nevers, 
Catherine  de  Lorraine,  and  the  Duke  de  Guise,  es- 
corted Madame  to  Bordeaux  and  from  thence  to 
St.  Jean  de  Luz,  where,  on  the  banks  of  the  Bi- 
dassoa,  the  brides  were  to  meet  the  ambassadors 
appointed  to  attend  and  present  them  to  their 
future  consorts.  The  King  and  the  Queen  Regent 
arrived  at  Bordeaux,  and  entered  the  city  in  a 
splendid  barge,  surrounded  by  a  brilliant  court, 
amidst  the  plaudits  of  the  populace.14  Their  pro- 
gress, however,  had  been  dreary  and  perilous  ;  the 
devastation  of  civil  warfare  had  ruined  the  fertile 
south-western  provinces,  and  the  sight  of  the 
poverty-stricken  inhabitants  and  of  their  burned 
villages  was  a  sad  and  ominous  spectacle  for  the 
eyes  of  the  royal  bridegroom.  The  King's  progress 
was  protected  by  the  Marshal  de  Brissac  and  a 
division  of  artillery,  for  many  strongholds  of 
the  Huguenots  lay  on  the  route  between  Paris  and 


12  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1612- 

Bordeaux,  and  the  joyous  and  brilliant  cavaliers 
of  Marie's  court  shrank  from  conflict  with  the 
rough  bands  of  Saumur  and  La  Rochelle,  likely  to 
oppose  their  advance.  In  the  royal  train  were 
the  Princesses  de  Conde "  and  Conty,18  the 
Duchesses  de  Guise,17  de  Vendome 18  and  de  Mont- 
bazon.  Madame  entered  Bordeaux  on  the  17th 
of  November,  and  their  Majesties  three  days  later, 
where  they  eagerly  awaited  the  arrival  of  King 
Philip  III.  and  his  court  at  Fuentarabia. 

About  the  beginning  of  November,  1615,  King 
Philip,  accompanied  by  his  daughter  and  by  a 
swarm  of  courtiers,  leisurely  journeyed  from  Val- 
ladolid  to  Burgos,  and  took  up  his  abode  in  the 
famed  nunnery  of  Las  Huelgas  de  Burgos.  The 
marriage  by  proxy  of  King  Louis  and  the  Infanta 
was  celebrated  in  the  splendid  cathedral  of  Burgos 
on  the  18th  of  the  same  month,  the  representa- 
tive of  his  Christian  Majesty  being  the  Duke  of 
Lerma.  Two  days  before  this  solemnity,  Anne 
made  formal  renunciation  of  her  right  of  succes- 
sion to  the  Spanish  crown  and  of  the  rich  per- 
sonality and  money  of  her  deceased  mother,  Queen 
Marguerite  of  Austria.  "  I,  Dona  Ana,  Infanta 
of  Spain,  and,  by  the  grace  of  God,  Queen  elect  of 
France,  being  above  the  age  of  fifteen — and  there- 
fore of  competent  years  to  understand  the  tenor 
and  significance  of  the  above  articles — declare, 
that  I  hold  myself  content  with  the  dowry  as- 
signed to  me,  which  is  larger  than  any  other  before 
given  to  an  Infanta  of  Spain.  To  give  greater 
weight  to  this  my  renunciation,  I  swear,  with  my 


1617]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  13 

right  hand  resting  on  the  Holy  Gospels  contained 
in  this  missal  by  my  side,  to  abide  by  the  said  re- 
nunciation, which  I  sign  in  the  presence  of  my 
lord  and  father  and  of  my  brothers  who  have 
been  pleased  to  assist  at  this  solemnity." 19 

King  Louis,  meantime,  despatched  his  favourite, 
Luynes,  from  Bordeaux  to  Burgos,  to  greet  his 
consort  and  to  convey  to  her  a  letter.20  The 
mission  of  this  young  cavalier  first  aroused  the 
courtiers  to  the  extraordinary  favour  with  which 
he  was  regarded  by  the  King.  Luynes  and  his 
brothers  Cadenet  and  Brantes  were  remarkable 
for  their  good  looks  and  upright  carriage,  but 
they  owed  much  of  their  prestige  at  court  to  their 
cool  assurance  and  their  insensibility  to  the  scorn- 
ful contempt  with  which  they  were  often  treated 
by  the  great  lords  of  the  court  and  to  the  gibes 
current  respecting  their  origin.  Luynes  bowed  at 
the  feet  of  Marie  de'  Medici  and  of  Concini,  and 
humbly  received  their  constant  objurgations, 
while  the  King  felt  a  grateful  relief  from  restraint 
and  shyness  in  the  society  of  his  parvenu  favour- 
ite. It  was  said  at  court  that  at  this  period 
Luynes,  Cadenet  and  Brantes  had  only  one 
court-habit  amongst  them  and  that  the  Auver- 
gnat  brothers  owed  their  favour  to  their  skill  in 
snaring  magpies  ! 21  M.  de  Luynes  nevertheless 
was  welcomed  at  the  proud  Spanish  court ;  he 
was  caressed  by  King  Philip,  patronised  by  Lerma 
and  graciously  received  by  his  future  royal  mis- 
tress. Luynes  presented  the  royal  letter  to  her 
youthful  Majesty  enclosed  in  a  portfolio  of  rose- 


14  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1612- 

coloured  silk,  embroidered  in  pearls  with  the 
ciphers  L.  and  A.  "  Madame,"  wrote  King  Louis 
XIII.,  "  it  is  not  in  my  power,  though  my  inclina- 
tion prompts  me,  to  receive  you  on  your  entry  into 
my  kingdom,  to  place  in  your  hands  my  royal 
power,  as  I  am  inspired  to  do  by  the  sincere  affec- 
tion which  I  bear  you.  I  send  to  you,  therefore, 
Luynes,  one  of  my  most  trusted  servants,  to  salute 
you  in  my  name,  and  to  assure  you  how  eagerly 
you  are  here  expected  and  that  I  earnestly  desire 
to  tell  you  so  myself.  I  beg  you,  therefore,  to 
receive  with  favour  this  said  Luynes,  and  to 
believe  all  that  he  may  say  on  behalf  of  your 
dearest  friend  and  servant — Louis." 

The  young  Queen  smiled  while  perusing  this 
note  ;  destiny  then  doubtless  appeared  to  her 
brilliant  as  fancy  could  suggest,  and  with  child- 
like eagerness  she  dwelt  on  the  pomps,  the  festi- 
vals and  the  magnificences  over  which  she  had 
been  selected  to  preside.  Had  the  dark  shadows 
which  marred  these  splendours  been  even  outlined 
in  imagination,  sad  foreboding  must  have 
quenched  her  delight.  The  future,  however,  now 
appeared  serene  and  halcyon.  Anne  therefore 
responded  thus,  in  her  own  musical  language,  to 
the  greeting  so  gallantly  conveyed  : 

"  ANNE    OF   AUSTRIA   TO   LOUIS   XIII. 

"  MONSEIGNEUR, — I  have  rejoiced  much  with 
Luynes  on  the  good  news  which  he  has  brought  to 
me  concerning  the  health  of  your  Majesty,  and 
the  desire  which  you  express  to  see  me.  I  also 


1617]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  15 

wish  myself  there,  where  I  can  serve  the  Queen 
my  mother  and  yourself.  Luynes  has  made  me 
anxious  to  set  out  on  my  journey  from  the  com- 
forting assurances  which  he  gives  me.  I  kiss  the 
hand  of  your  Majesty,  whom  may  God  preserve 
as  I  pray. — ANA.' 


22 


The  Queen  sent  her  lord  a  present  of  a  superb 
rosary,  also — what  doubtless  would  be  less  wel- 
come— a  list  of  the  ladies  of  her  Spanish  house- 
hold whom  she  wished  might  be  permitted  to 
continue  their  services  in  the  Louvre.  The  Con- 
desa  de  las  Torres,  Dona  Luisa  de  Osorio  and 
Dona  Marguerita  de  Cordova  were  the  chief  per- 
sonages named  on  this  list.  Her  confessor,  Padre 
Francisco  de  Ribeyra,  and  her  chaplain,  Pedro  de 
Castro,  were  likewise  to  form  part  of  her  Majesty's 
suite.  Marie  de'  Medici  acquiesced  in  these  im- 
politic appointments.  The  King  was  thoughtless 
and  enjoyed  his  temporary  emancipation  from  the 
monotony  of  the  Louvre.  Luynes  and  Concini 
were  parvenu  favourites — men  who,  at  this  period, 
being  both  uncertain  of  their  position  at  court 
would  have  retreated  aghast  at  a  proposal  to 
thwart  the  wishes  of  the  Catholic  King. 

Magnificent  pavilions  had  been  erected  on  the 
islet  in  the  midst  of  the  stream  Bidassoa  for  the 
repose  of  the  two  Princesses,  and  to  enable  them 
to  receive  a  last  finish  to  their  elaborate  toilettes 
before  entering  the  state-barge  which  was  to  con- 
vey each  to  her  newly  adopted  country.  The 
banks  of  the  river  were  kept  by  squadrons  of  light 


16  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         fieia- 

horse  and  by  the  royal  body-guard,  consisting  of 
more  than  500  men,  under  the  command  of  the 
Marshal  de  Brissac.  Companies  of  the  King's 
gentlemen-at-arms,  bearing  their  battle-axes,  were 
stationed  at  intervals,  while  thousands  of  specta- 
tors gathered  to  witness  the  meeting  of  the  courts. 
The  scene  was  imposing  and  magnificent,  and 
was  surpassed  only  by  the  pompous  reception 
given  on  the  banks  of  the  Bidassoa  to  Elizabeth 
de  Valois  by  her  mother,  Catherine  de'  Medici, 
and  by  her  brother  Charles  IX.  Along  the  banks 
of  the  river,  below  the  place  of  embarkation,  mag- 
nificent pavilions  and  platforms  rose,  draped  with 
white  and  yellow  silk  hangings,  for  the  ladies  of 
the  courts  of  France  and  Spain  not  officially 
present  at  the  ceremony.  Anne  quitted  Burgos 
November  the  20th,  and  after  taking  sorrowful 
leave  of  her  father,  commenced  her  journey  to- 
wards Irun.  She  was  attended  by  the  Duquesa 
de  Sessa,  who  had  been  especially  appointed  to 
present  her  to  the  ambassador  of  her  royal 
husband  Louis  XIII.,  and  to  conduct  the  young 
Princess  of  France  to  Guadalaxara.  In  the  suite 
of  the  young  Queen  were  the  Duque  de  Uzeda,  son 
of  the  cardinal  minister  Lerma,  the  Dukes  de 
Sessa,  Maqueda,  Infantado,  the  Count  de  Olivarez 
and  the  Marquis  de  Monteleone,  the  newly  ap- 
pointed Spanish  ambassador  in  Paris,  besides  a 
numerous  suite  of  ladies,  including  those  who  were 
to  follow  her  Majesty  into  France.  Anne's  journey 
was  tedious  and  fatiguing  ;  the  roads  were  broken 
by  heavy  rains,  and  horses  could  with  difficulty 


1617]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  17 

be  found  for  the  transport  of  the  prodigious  caval- 
cade of  baggage  waggons  containing  her  Majesty's 
bridal  outfit  and  rich  effects.  The  baggage  filled 
a  hundred  chariots,  each  drawn  by  three  horses  ; 
there  were,  moreover,  two  hundred  sumpter  mules 
laden  with  velvet  coffers  richly  emblazoned  with 
the  arms  of  Spain.  The  passage  of  this  convoy 
through  the  streets  of  Bordeaux  occupied  nine 
hours,  to  the  wonderment  and  amusement  of  the 
loyal  Bordelais. 

Anne  passed  the  night  of  the  23rd  of  Novem- 
ber in  the  citadel  of  Irun.  At  dawn  on  the 
morrow  the  baggage  crossed  the  Bidassoa,  and 
at  mid-day  a  muster  of  the  Spanish  court  was 
made,  and  the  cavaliers  and  ladies  descended 
from  the  rocky  heights  of  Irun  to  the  bank  of 
the  river.  At  one  o'clock  the  young  Princess- 
elect  of  the  Asturias  arrived,  attended  by  the 
Duchess  de  Nevers  and  the  Dukes  de  Guise, 
d'Elboeuf  and  de  Grammont,  and  the  Prince  de 
Joinville.  Amid  loud  acclamations  and  dis- 
charges of  artillery  the  Princess  stepped  into  the 
barge,  and  was  rowed  to  the  landing-place  on  Pile 
des  Faisans  and  immediately  entered  a  pavilion 
surmounted  by  the  white  flag  of  Bourbon.  Queen 
Anne  simultaneously  stepped  into  her  barge  from 
the  opposite  bank  of  the  river  and  likewise  landed 
and  entered  a  pavilion  crowned  by  the  yellow  flag 
of  Spain.  The  French  nobles  presently  craved 
audience  of  her  Majesty,  while  the  Spanish 
courtiers  paid  the  same  devoirs  to  Madame  Eliza- 
beth. The  Duchess  de  Nevers  and  the  Duke  de 


18  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1612- 

Guise  presented  the  French  nobles  of  the  suite  to 
the  Queen.  Her  youthful  Majesty  sat  on  a  chair 
of  state,  attired  in  a  robe  of  green  satin  em- 
broidered with  gold,  having  wide  and  pendent 
sleeves  looped  up  with  bouquets  of  diamonds.  A 
small  ruff  of  fine  Flemish  lace  encircled  Anne's 
delicate  neck.  Her  fair  hair  fell  in  ringlets,  and 
she  wore  a  small  coquettish  hat  of  green  satin, 
looped  with  strings  of  pearls  and  adorned  by  a 
heron's  plume.  A  fresh  and  blooming  face 
greeted  the  eyes  of  the  fastidious  courtiers,  and 
a  complexion  of  dazzling  brilliancy  said  to  be  un- 
rivalled in  Europe.  The  Queen's  eyes  were  blue 
and  piercing,  her  brows  were  arched,  her  figure 
was  petite  and  graceful  though  somewhat  spoiled 
by  an  enormous  pannier.  Behind  the  Queen  stood 
the  Duchess  de  Sessa,  the  Condesa  de  las  Torres 
and  the  chief  hidalgos  of  her  suite.  The  maidens 
and  women  of  the  bedchamber  formed  a  half 
circle  on  each  side  of  the  royal  chair,  sitting  in 
Moorish  fashion  on  velvet  cushions  and  flirting 
their  fans.  The  ceremony  of  salutation  per- 
formed, her  Majesty  rose  and  quitted  the  pavilion. 
Madame  Elizabeth  did  the  same,  and  the  Prin- 
cesses exchanging  a  cordial  kiss,  moved  slightly 
apart  and  conversed,  while  their  attendants  de- 
livered to  each  other  the  long  speeches  prepared 
for  the  occasion.  These  over,  the  Duque  de  Uzeda 
approached  Queen  Anne,  and  kneeling,  kissed  her 
hand,  which  he  placed  in  that  of  the  Duke  de 
Guise,  who  led  her  to  the  boat  adorned  by  the 
French  flag.  Guise  then  repeated  this  ceremonial, 


1617]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  19 

and  delivered  Madame  Elizabeth  to  the  Duque  de 
Uzeda.  The  Duchess  de  Nevers  then  took  her 
place  behind  Queen  Anne,  and  the  Duchess  de 
Sessa  behind  the  young  Princess  of  the  Asturias, 
who  could  not  refrain  from  weeping  bitterly,  in 
defiance  of  etiquette,  on  taking  leave  of  her 
French  suite.  The  barges  then  pushed  off  amid 
a  discharge  of  artillery  and  the  cheers  of  the 
spectators.23 

Her  Majesty  reposed  that  night  in  the  citadel 
of  Bayonne,  and  early  the  following  morning  she 
departed    for  Bordeaux,  where   Louis  anxiously 
awaited  her.  The  royal  residence  in  Bordeaux  was 
the  archiepiscopal  palace.     Anne  was  received  in 
the  great  hall  of  the  palace  by  the  Queen  Regent, 
attended  by  a  numerous  court.     Marie  embraced 
her  daughter-in-law,  and  after  conversing  for  a 
few  seconds  led  Anne  into  an  inner  apartment, 
where  Louis  XIII.  waited  attended  by  de  Luynes. 
Louis  wore  the  mantle  of  his  Order;    his  sword 
was  girt  at  his  side  and  the  rich   collar  of  St. 
Esprit  glittered  on  his  breast.     The  King  eagerly 
stepped  forward  and,  taking  the  hand  of  his  bride, 
saluted  her  on  the  forehead.     "  Every  one  was 
amazed  at  the  striking  likeness  subsisting  between 
the  royal  pair.     His  Majesty  frequently  looked  at 
his   bride    smiling,  while  her   Majesty,  notwith- 
standing that  she  seemed  much  oppressed  with 
the  weight  and  amplitude  of  her  attire,  could  not 
help  smiling  very  lovingly  also." 24     Louis  con- 
tinued to  stand  awkwardly  gazing  on  the  fair  face 
of  his  bride,  until,  at  a  sign  from  Queen  Marie,  he 


20  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1612- 

timidly  took  her  hand  and  led  her  into  the 
sheltering  recess  of  a  deep  window,  where  the 
youthful  pair  conversed  for  upwards  of  half  an 
hour,  being  presently  joined  by  de  Luynes.  Anne 
next  went  through  the  ceremony  of  receiving  the 
ladies  of  the  French  court,  who  were  presented  by 
the  Duchess  de  Nevers  ;  her  Majesty  then  intro- 
duced her  Spanish  ladies  to  the  King,  and 
earnestly  commended  them  to  his  favour.  Louis, 
however,  received  their  homage  with  frowning 
reserve,  and  turning  to  M.  de  Luynes  whispered 
some  sneering  observation  on  the  stately  salutation 
of  the  Condesa  de  las  Torres,  which  appeared  to 
convulse  the  favourite  with  suppressed  laughter. 

The  ceremony  of  the  marriage  was  performed  in 
the  cathedral  of  Bordeaux  on  the  Feast  of  St. 
Catherine.  The  Princess  de  Conty  and  the 
Duchesses  de  Guise  and  de  Vendome  bore  the  train 
of  Anne's  bridal  robe  of  cloth  of  silver.  The 
Queen  wore  a  rich  diadem  of  diamonds,  the  gift  of 
her  royal  father  ;  her  hair  was  dressed  a  la  Fran- 
gaise,  and  the  spectators  applauded  her  girlish 
grace  as  she  daintily  rested  on  the  arm  of  the 
Duke  de  Guise,  who,  with  the  Duke  d'Elboeuf, 
escorted  her  to  the  altar.  The  Regent  was 
present  at  the  ceremony,  arrayed  in  mourning 
robes.  The  nuptial  benediction  was  given  by  the 
Bishop  of  Saintes,  as  eldest  suffragan  bishop  of  the 
diocese,  in  the  absence  of  the  Cardinal  Archbishop 
of  Bordeaux.  The  royal  pair  left  the  cathedral 
at  six  in  the  evening,  and  were  escorted  to  their 
abode  by  torchlight. 


1617]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  21 

The  court  quitted  Bordeaux  about  the  29th  of 
November  and  travelled  to  Tours,  where  their 
Majesties  spent  the  winter  months  in  seclusion. 
During  this  interval  the  treaty  of  Loudun  was 
signed  by  the  Regent — an  act  which  was  im- 
portant in  every  aspect,  as  it  outwardly  recon- 
ciled the  de  facto  government  with  the  ministers 
and  adherents  of  the  policy  of  Henri  Quatre.  The 
treaty  checked  the  almost  boundless  power  of  the 
Marquis  d'Ancre  by  bringing  back  to  the  Louvre 
the  great  peers  of  the  realm ;  it  conciliated  the 
Huguenot  faction,  and  allayed  the  frantic  ap- 
prehensions raised  by  the  matrimonial  alliances 
with  Spain.  The  treaty  was  warmly  promoted 
by  M.  de  Luynes,  who  from  thenceforth  ventured 
to  wrestle  against  the  hitherto  omnipotent  in- 
fluence of  the  Marquis  d'Ancre  and  his  wife.  To 
Marie  de'  Medici  the  pacification  was  also  wel- 
come, although  Conde  became  installed  thereby 
as  President  of  the  Council  of  State.  She  trusted 
by  this  compact  to  find  an  antidote  to  Spanish 
ascendency  in  her  domestic  circle,  and  to  the  in- 
fluence exercised  over  her  royal  son  by  the  charms 
of  his  bride.  The  King  on  the  whole  was  satisfied, 
as  his  favourite  declared  himself  content,  though 
piqued  that  peace  had  been  negotiated  and  signed 
without  his  own  intervention.  By  the  articles  of 
Loudun  the  Huguenot  faith  once  more  received 
distinct  recognition  from  government,  and  Hu- 
guenot members  were  declared  eligible  to  sit  in  the 
Parliament  of  Paris.  No  foreigner  was  from 
thenceforth  to  be  naturalised  in  France  with  a 


22  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [ieia- 

view  to  his  instalment  in  offices  of  state  ;  Conde* 
was  to  preside  over  and  to  countersign  the  Privy 
Council  edicts  ;  and  all  fiefs  and  properties  con- 
fiscated for  past  rebellion  were  to  be  restored  to 
their  former  possessors.  The  Marquis  d'Ancre 
relinquished  his  government  of  Normandy  to  M. 
de  Longueville,  and  ceded  the  citadel  of  Amiens. 
Measures  so  popular  were  nevertheless  distasteful 
to  the  young  Queen,  who  was  injudiciously 
exhorted  by  the  Spanish  ambassador,  the  Marquis 
de  Monteleone,  to  exert  her  influence  in  opposition 
to  Queen  Marie  and  to  M.  de  Luynes  to  procure 
their  withdrawal.  The  position  of  the  Infanta- 
queen,  as  Anne  at  this  period  was  called,  required 
prudence,  the  nicest  counsel  and  exquisite  tact. 
A  child  still  in  age,  mind  and  manner,  the  young 
Queen  ought  to  have  been  exhorted  to  avoid 
politics,  and  to  shrink  from  participation  in  that 
wild  and  complex  struggle  of  parties  which  be- 
wildered the  strongest  intellects.  It  was,  how- 
ever, the  unhappy  persuasion  of  the  Queen  that 
her  mission  was  to  revolutionise  the  policy  of  her 
adopted  country  ;  to  introduce  by  force  or  by 
persuasion  Spanish  maxims,  Spanish  habits  and 
Spanish  policy — emphatically  to  serve  her  country 
by  upholding  the  policy,  the  religion  and  the  dy- 
nasty of  Spain  against  all  assailants.  Thoroughly 
imbued  with  the  maxims  and  the  instructions 
showered  upon  her  by  her  father,  King  Philip,  and 
by  her  brothers  before  leaving  Spain,  Anne  de- 
voted herself,  as  far  as  her  ability  permitted,  to 
carry  out  the  advice  secretly  tendered  to  her 


1617]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  23 

by  Monteleone,  who  had  at  this  period  free 
access  to  the  palace.25  Anne  had  been  advised 
to  flatter  the  Queen- mother  ;  to  conciliate  the 
Marquis  d'Ancre  and  his  wife  ;  to  despise  M.  de 
Luynes  ;  to  win  her  husband  the  King  by  tender 
submission  and  grace  ;  but  yet  to  show  herself 
of  inflexible  resolve  in  all  matters  wherein  the 
honour  and  interest  of  Spain  were  concerned. 
Thus,  although  she  was  exhorted  to  fidelity  and 
secrecy  whenever  state  matters  were  imparted  to 
her  ear,  her  Majesty  was  desired  to  make  excep- 
tion to  this  rule  in  favour  of  Monteleone,26  to  whom 
she  was  to  confide  all  matters,  even  of  the  most 
private  and  domestic  nature.  Anne,  therefore, 
soon  became  a  puppet  in  the  hands  of  Monteleone, 
while  she  fancied  that  she  was  fulfilling  her  duties 
as  Queen  consort  and  asserting  her  indepen- 
dence, by  her  submission  to  counsels  sanctioned 
by  her  royal  father.  The  withering  glance  of 
Marie  de'  Medici,  however,  rested  on  her  young 
daughter-in-law,  whose  girlish  presumption  she 
resolved  to  chastise.  More  fatal,  however,  for  the 
happiness  of  Anne  of  Austria,  was  the  enmity  of 
de  Luynes  ;  the  favourite  angrily  resented  the 
contempt  of  his  young  mistress  and  loathed  her 
condescensions.  The  mind  of  Louis  XIII.  must 
therefore  be  fortified  against  Anne's  fascinations  ; 
the  more  especially  as  the  assiduous  court  paid  by 
the  Spanish  ambassador  to  the  Marquis  d'Ancre 
appeared  to  indicate  the  willingness  of  his 
Catholic  Majesty  to  favour  the  usurping  rule  of 
Concini.  The  King  spent  his  days  in  listless 


24  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1612- 

discontent,  lounging  about  the  apartments  of  his 
consort,  and  associating  her  in  many  of  his  boyish 
pastimes.  Sometimes  in  petulant  disgust  at  her 
Spanish  entourage.,  Louis  suddenly  left  her  apart- 
ments and  took  refuge  within  his  own,  vowing 
never  again  to  visit  the  Queen  until  her  grim 
duennas  were  banished  from  the  palace. 

Early  in  the  year  following  her  marriage,  Anne 
had  taken  possession  of  apartments  at  the 
Louvre,  while  the  Regent  retired  to  the  Luxem- 
bourg, a  palace  which  owed  its  noble  embellish- 
ments to  her  taste  and  munificence.  "  The 
household  of  our  young  Queen,"  wrote  Montele- 
one,  "  is  not  yet  named.  Her  apartments  at  the 
Louvre  are  suitable  to  her  Majesty's  dignity.  The 
Countesses  de  Castro  and  de  Torres  (the  latter  is 
an  angel,  whose  merits  defy  laudation),  are  lodged 
near  to  their  mistress.  The  Infanta-queen  is  daily 
received  with  cordial  delight  by  her  subjects."  27 
Notwithstanding  the  splendour  of  her  outward 
position,  Anne's  affection  reverted  to  Spain,  to  its 
peaceful  palaces,  reverent  court,  sunny  climate, 
but,  above  all,  she  pined  for  the  lively  sympathy 
which  there  surrounded  her.  "  Tell  my  father," 
writes  she  at  this  period,  "  that  nothing  but 
my  beloved  Spain  can  solace  me."  Amongst 
the  grievances  complained  of  by  Anne  to  her 
father  was  the  diversity  of  counsel  given  by 
her  French  and  Spanish  advisers.  Marie  de' 
Medici,  through  Madame  d'Ancre,  sent  word  to 
her  daughter  commanding  her  to  conform  to 
French  fashions  in  her  dress,  to  sprinkle  her  fair 


1617]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  25 

hair  with  powder,  and  to  lay  aside  her  enormous 
hoop ;  also  her  Majesty  intimated  that  the 
French  loved  gay  and  sprightly  women,  apt  of 
speech,  and  agile  in  the  dance,  and  that  no  de- 
meanour so  offended  them  as  solemn  hauteur  and 
distant  formality.  Anne,  therefore,  only  too 
readily  arrayed  herself  in  the  most  bewitching 
modes  a  la  Francaise  ;  and,  yielding  to  the  vi- 
vacity of  her  character,  charmed  the  courtiers  by 
her  sallies  and  by  her  eager  participation  in  the 
pastimes  of  the  court.  The  next  mail  that  left  for 
Madrid  carried  out  a  joint  despatch  from  Madame 
de  las  Torres  and  from  the  ambassador,  Montele- 
one,  deploring  the  volatile  disposition  of  their 
child-mistress,  who  revelled  in  her  French 
fripperies  and  appeared  to  love  that  costume 
better  than  the  decorous  robes  patronised  in  the 
land  of  her  birth.  The  ambassador  next  com- 
ments on  the  quarrels  of  the  royal  pair,  "  who 
often  disputed,  like  froward  children,  over  their 
pastimes."  He  then  proceeds  to  censure  the  un- 
due influence  exercised  by  Marie  de'  Medici  over 
the  King,  especially  complaining  that  the  Queen- 
mother  and  M.  de  Luynes  prevented  his  Majesty 
from  demonstrating  proper  conjugal  devotion  to- 
wards his  consort,  by  inspiring  chimerical  fears  of 
the  danger  which  might  be  apprehended  from  the 
birth  of  offspring  at  a  period  when  his  Majesty 
himself  had  scarcely  attained  to  manhood.  "  It  is 
a  grievous  fact  that  their  Majesties  live  together 
as  brother  and  sister,"  continues  Monteleone. 
He  then  querulously  continues  to  complain  of — 


26  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [iei2- 

"  Cette  Anne  si  belle, 
Qu'on  vante  si  fort." 

'  The  Infanta-queen  continues  in  good  health  ; 
it  is  very  much  to  be  desired,  to  render  this 
Majesty  all  perfection,  that  we  could  correct 
certain  irregularities  of  character,  though  every 
one  ascribes  her  Majesty's  unfortunate  flightiness 
of  manner  to  her  youth.  Her  Majesty  never 
speaks  without  jesting  like  a  child  ;  we  cannot  in- 
duce her  to  apply  herself  to  serious  matters  ;  she 
forgets  all  counsels  and  instruction  with  incredible 
facility  ;  and  her  petulance  is  such  that  we  have 
neither  leisure  nor  courage  to  interfere.  I  must 
add  that  although  we  give  continual  attention  to 
correct  these  defects,  and  to  induce  this  young 
Queen  to  adopt  manners  more  worthy  of  her 
descent  and  position,  we  are  very  careful  not  to 
disgust  or  alienate  her.  We  have  now  arranged 
that  her  Majesty's  confessor  shall  visit  and  con- 
verse with  her  daily  on  matters  private  and 
domestic,  but  I  dread  the  weariness  and  im- 
patience which  these  interviews  will  finally,  but 
too  surely,  inspire." 28  A  fete  occasionally  en- 
livened the  dull  monotony  of  the  court.  The 
King  gave  a  superb  masked  ball  at  the  Louvre 
in  the  year  1616,  during  which  their  Majesties 
danced  together.  Anne  performed  a  saraband 
with  her  royal  consort,  and  was  arrayed  in  great 
splendour. 

The  burdened  spirit  of  Marie  de'  Medici,  how- 
ever, found  little  pleasure  in  the  pageantries  which 
charmed  her  daughter-in-law.  Marie  beheld  her 


1617]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  27 

precious  but  much  abused  power  passing  away  ; 
and  deep  dejection  oppressed  her.  The  Pacifica- 
tion of  Loudun  had  brought  little  intermission  to 
her  anxieties.  Before  the  signature  of  that  com- 
pact she  had  wrestled  with  the  malcontents  in 
distant  provinces  ;  now,  all  the  old  ministers  of 
Henri  Quatre,  the  Huguenot  chieftains,  the  great 
lords  of  the  realm  who  had  abandoned  Paris 
rather  than  bow  before  the  parvenu  Concini,29 
swarmed  in  the  saloons  of  the  Louvre  and 
clamoured  that  every  privilege  granted  at  Loudun 
should  be  conceded.  Conde  tyrannised  over  the 
council,  defied  the  commands  of  their  Majesties, 
and  had  compelled  Concini,  after  despoiling  him 
of  his  most  prized  governments,  to  retire  from 
Paris,  to  the  grief  and  consternation  of  Queen 
Marie  and  the  downfall  of  her  authority.  Louis 
apparently  beheld  these  discords  with  composure, 
though  in  reality  he  was  profoundly  displeased. 
The  Spanish  ambassador,  M.  de  Luynes  and  the 
Papal  Nuncio,  directed  the  King's  attention  to  the 
league  forming  between  MM.  de  Guise,  de  Buillon, 
de  Vendome  and  de  Mayenne,  under  the  banner 
of  Conde  to  curtail  the  royal  power,  the  which 
conspiracy  had  its  origin  alone  in  their  jealousy  of 
Concini.  Marie,  goaded  to  extremity,  sought  to 
extricate  herself  by  commanding  the  arrest  of 
Conde  ;  which  great  event  was  effected  by  M.  de 
Themines  in  the  Louvre,  as  the  Prince  quitted  her 
Majesty's  presence.30  Orders  were  then  issued  for 
the  arrest  of  the  colleagues  of  M.  le  Prince  ;  but 
MM.  de  Vendome  and  de  Mayenne,  on  the  first 


28  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1612- 

symptoms  of  agitation,  fled  from  Paris  ;  while 
Bouillon  received  timely  warning  of  the  event  at 
Charenton  and  escaped  to  Soissons.  Riots  ensued 
in  Paris  on  the  arrest  of  Conde  ;  the  windows 
of  the  Hotel  Concini  were  smashed,  and  a  tur- 
bulent rabble  assaulted  the  Queen's  palace  of  the 
Luxembourg,  and  forcing  an  entrance  therein, 
burned  and  destroyed  rich  furniture  to  the  value 
of  200,000  crowns.  A  council  of  war  was  hastily 
formed,  and  measures  adopted  to  subdue  the  re- 
bellion of  the  fugitive  princes,  and  to  arrest  their 
persons.  Conde  was  transferred  to  the  Bastille  by 
Themines  andBassompierre,31  the  former  of  whom 
received  the  baton  of  Marshal  for  his  services  on 
this  occasion. 

The  young  Queen,  meantime,  applauded  the 
resolution  of  the  Regent,  and  during  the  tumult 
following  the  arrest  of  Conde,  remained  calm  and 
composed  and  joyous,  "  as  if,  Sire,  she  had  been 
seated  within  your  palace  of  Madrid  !  >:  By  the 
overthrow  of  Conde  Anne  fancied  that  she  des- 
cried redemption  for  her  Spanish  ladies  from 
heretic  threats,  and  the  repression  of  the  insolent 
assumptions  of  de  Luynes.  Marie  herself  was  not, 
however,  deceived  by  the  success  of  her  hazardous 
experiment.  The  sombre  silence  of  her  son,  and 
the  half-satirical  earnestness  of  his  refusals  to 
assume  the  conduct  of  affairs,  which  she  had  on 
more  than  one  occasion  proposed  to  relinquish, 
filled  her  mind  with  foreboding.  France  trembled 
on  the  verge  of  a  civil  war  ;  names  potent  in  the 
provinces,  such  as  Longueville,  Nevers,  Guise, 


1617]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  29 

Mayenne,  Vendome,  Bouillon,  La  Rochefoucault, 
Soissons,  had  raised  the  standard  of  revolt  against 
a  government  guided  by  Concini,  the  Florentine 
gambler.32  The  Huguenots  flew  to  arms  for  the 
rescue  of  Conde;  Sully,  Villeroy,  Bellievre,  Du- 
plessis-Mornay,  Rohan,  Lesdiguieres,  inscribed 
their  honoured  names  at  the  foot  of  manifestoes 
calling  upon  the  people  to  save  the  monarchy  and 
the  King.  Paris  had  risen  to  avenge  the  "  per- 
fidious "  arrest  of  Conde,  the  hero  of  the  hour  ; 
and  the  Chamber  beheld  many  of  its  members 
dissolve  in  tears,  as  eloquent  orators  descanted  on 
the  woes  which  afflicted  the  realm  under  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  widow  of  Henri  Quatre.  Never 
had  an  ambitious  and  artful  favourite  a  more 
plausible  and  popular  ground  for  the  overthrow 
of  an  adversary. 

The  King,  meantime,  on  his  return  from  St. 
Germain,  was  seized  with  a  fit  of  epilepsy  on  All 
Saints'  Day,  1616.  The  Regent  was  performing 
her  devotions  in  the  chapel  of  Feuillantine  monas- 
tery, when  summoned  in  haste  back  to  the  Louvre. 
Concini  and  his  wife,  during  the  panic,  got  posses- 
sion of  the  little  Duke  of  Orleans,  heir  presumptive 
to  the  throne,  and  ordered  the  Queen's  guards  to 
take  possession  of  the  principal  avenues  of  the 
palace  and  to  dislodge  therefrom  the  soldiers  of 
Vitry's  tried  body-guard.  In  a  few  hours  Louis 
recovered  his  senses  and  in  three  days  became 
convalescent.  Queen  Marie,  in  conversing  with 
Du  Vair,  keeper  of  the  seals,  imprudently  asked 
him  what  he  thought  of  his  Majesty's  sudden 


30  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1612- 

seizure  ?     Du  Vair  said  that  he  feared  the  fit 
might    return    during   the    forthcoming    spring ; 
which  opinion,   Marie,   with  her  usual   want  of 
caution,  repeated  to  Herouard,  first  physician  to 
Louis,   who   confided  her  Majesty's   observation 
to  de  Luynes.33     The  latter  immediately  sought 
his  royal  master  in    feigned  consternation,  and 
avowed  his  belief  that  a  plot  was  in  agitation  to 
deprive  his  Majesty  of  life  by  slow  poison  at  a 
banquet  about  to  be  offered  to  the  King  by  the 
Duke    de    Vendome    at    the    instigation    of    M. 
d'Ancre  : 34 — "  Sire,"    said  the    artful  favourite, 
"  MM.  the  Princes  in  alleged  revolt  are  loyal  to 
your  Majesty,  but  the  Queen  your  mother  perse- 
cutes  them  out    of    regard  for  M.  le    Marechal 
d'Ancre.     Sire,  one  unanimous  wail  of  sorrow  was 
heard  throughout  the  provinces  during  your  late 
illness  !  "     The  murmur  of  coming  disaster,  mean- 
while, overwhelmed  the  unhappy  Concini  and  his 
wife — at  times  he  besought  the  latter  to  fly  from 
the  realm  for  the  safety  of  their  lives,  their  son, 
and  their  enormous  wealth.35    His  late  temporary 
exile  on  the  demand  of  the  Princes  had  filled  his 
mind  with  dismay,  while  the  premature  death  at 
this  season  of  his  only  daughter  he  regarded  as  a 
fatal  omen.      At  times  Concini  seemed  to  brave 
adversity,  and   proudly  declared  that  he  would 
not  abandon  the  Queen,  but  would  test  "  how  far 
the  luck  of  an  adventurer  could  go."     The  wily  de 
Luynes  did  not  fail  to  report  to  his  royal  master 
every  alternation  of  his  enemy's  mood,  whether  of 
humility  or  arrogance.      In  a  moment  of  despair 


1617]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  31 

the  Marquis  confessed  to  Bassompierre  that  he 
possessed  the  enormous  sum  of  six  millions  of  gold 
crowns,  "  sans  parler  de  la  bourse  de  ma  femme." 
Moreover,  that  he  had  recently  offered  to  the  Pope 
the  sum  of  600,000  livres  for  a  life  interest  in  the 
revenue  of  the  duchy  of  Ferrara.  "  Sire,"  there- 
upon said  de  Luynes,  "  Concini  is  king  of  this 
realm  ;  he  exercises  absolute  sway  over  this  king- 
dom ;  he  defies  your  authority  and  wishes  the 
ruin  of  the  Princes.  He  has  possessed  himself  of 
the  mind  of  the  Queen  your  mother,  whom  he 
bends  to  his  will,  besides  influencing  her  heart 
towards  Monsieur  your  brother  more  than  to- 
wards yourself.  He  is  daily  in  the  habit  of  con- 
sulting astrologers  and  wise  men  on  the  probable 
duration  of  your  life.  Your  council  is  devoted  to 
him,  and  when  we  ask  for  money  for  your 
Majesty's  privy  purse  none  is  forthcoming.  His 
return  from  Normandy  without  your  permission 
was,  Sire,  an  unwarrantable  audacity.  As  for  her 
Majesty  the  Queen-mother,  you,  Sire,  may  imagine 
how  potent  may  become  her  power  when  the 
loyal  rebellion  of  MM.  les  Princes  is  subdued.  Will 
not  her  servants  participate  in  this  increased 
authority  to  the  detriment,  nay,  to  the  probable 
subversion,  of  your  prerogative  ?  v  These  words 
festered  on  the  irritated  mind  of  the  King — al- 
ready that  jealousy  of  his  only  brother  Gaston, 
from  which  such  lamentable  after-results  flowed, 
rankled  in  the  heart  of  Louis.  "  The  three 
brothers  de  Luynes,"  wrote  the  ambassador 
Monteleone  to  Madrid,  "are  well  intentioned 


32  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1612- 

cavaliers,  but  with  little  talent  or  genius;  neverthe- 
less, the  King  is  greatly  attached  to  them.  It  is, 
however,  well  that  your  Majesty  should  be  aware 
that  there  is  now  a  deadly  feud  between  the 
Marquis  d'Ancre  and  this  de  Luynes  ;  it  is 
necessary  for  the  Infanta-queen  to  exercise  the 
greatest  circumspection  in  her  demeanour,  but, 
as  yet,  she  has  not  committed  any  error."  Orders 
thereupon  arrived  from  Madrid  to  treat  "  the 
brothers  "  with  distinction.  Monteleone,  when 
communicating  to  the  ambitious  favourite  a  flat- 
tering assurance  of  the  good-will  of  the  Catholic 
King,  received  in  reply  from  de  Luynes  the 
words,  accompanied  by  an  expressive  gesture :  "  I 
understand  your  Excellency,  and  at  a  suitable 
period  you  will  perceive  that  I  have  accepted  and 
profited  by  your  message." 36  With  subtle  perfidy 
de  Luynes,  having  thus  encompassed  his  rival, 
brought  the  dark  anger  of  the  King  to  a  climax  by 
becoming  the  medium  of  communications  between 
his  Majesty  and  some  of  the  revolted  lords,  who 
offered  to  return  to  court  on  the  exile  of  Concini ; 
protesting  that,  that  personage  alone,  by  his 
tyranny  and  exactions,  had  been  the  cause  of 
their  temporary  defection.  Vitry,  captain  of  the 
body-guard,  at  length  received  commands  to 
arrest  the  Marquis  d'Ancre  and  convey  him  to 
the  Bastille.  These  orders  were  given  second- 
hand to  M.  de  Vitry,  who  himself  graphically 
records  his  amazement  on  receiving  such  an 
important  mandate  from  the  lips  of  two  inferior 
gentlemen  of  the  wardrobe,  and  of  one  of  the 


1617]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  33 

gardeners  of  the  Tuileries,  high  in  the  good 
graces  of  Louis  for  his  skill  in  trapping  little 
birds.37  Hatred  of  the  unfortunate  Marquis, 
fear  of  the  powerful  favourite,  and  the  bribe 
of  a  promise  of  the  vacant  baton  of  Marshal  of 
France,  induced  Vitry  to  swear  to  keep  the 
design  secret  from  Queen  Marie  and  to  accept 
the  office — indeed,  the  future  tenure  of  his  post 
as  chief  captain  of  the  guard  compelled  his 
acquiescence. 

The  measures  of  the  conspirators  were  hastened 
by  an  act  of  sudden  and  ill-timed  energy  on  the 
part  of  the  Queen.  Suspecting  the  machinations 
of  Luynes,  Marie,  though  she  had  several  times 
affected  to  abdicate  her  authority,  determined 
upon  the  exile  of  the  favourite,  and  actually  gave 
a  mandate,  without  previously  consulting  the 
King,  forbidding  the  brothers  to  present  them- 
selves at  the  Louvre,  on  the  plea,  "  that  they  had 
concocted  a  plot  to  send  the  King  from  Paris,"  by 
which  assertion  her  Majesty  hoped  to  incite  a 
soulevement  of  the  Parisian  populace.38  This  fresh 
tracasserie  completed  the  exasperation  of  the  King. 
Hitherto  his  Majesty  had  resisted  the  sanguinary 
malevolence  of  his  favourite,  but  now  Louis  gave 
permission  that  weapons  might  be  used  in  case 
Concini  opposed  the  mandate  of  arrest.  Luynes 
therefore  shaped  his  instructions  to  compass  the 
end  which  he  had  long  meditated.  The  guet-a- 
pens  planned  by  one  infamous  man  to  compass  the 
destruction  of  another  equally  infamous,  met  with 
a  successful  result  on  the  morning  of  the  24th  of 


34  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1612- 

April,  1617.  The  Marquis  d'Ancre  was  passing 
from  the  drawbridge  of  the  Louvre  towards  the 
wicket  leading  into  the  grand  court,  when  Vitry, 
followed  by  twenty  archers,  arrested  him  in  the 
King's  name.  The  marquis  turned  sharply,  and 
placing  his  hand  on  the  hilt  of  his  sword,  ex- 
claimed, "  Moi  ?  prisonnier  !  '  The  words  were 
scarcely  uttered  when  three  pistols,  fired  by  Vitry, 
Duhallier  and  De  Perrans,  were  discharged  at  the 
unfortunate  man,  who  fell  dead  on  the  pavement, 
at  the  feet  of  Vitry.  Awful  silence  prevailed  for  a 
few  seconds.  At  length,  Louis  showed  himself  at 
a  window  attended  by  De  Luynes,  who  raised  the 
sash ;  shouts  arose  of  "  Vive  le  Roy !  A  bas  le 
tyran  !  '  The  young  King  raised  his  hat,  and  ad- 
vancing, exclaimed,  addressing  the  conspirators  : 
"  Grand?  merci  a  vous  !  A  present  je  suis  Roi  !  ' 
Luynes  then  ordered  the  gates  of  the  Louvre  to  be 
closed,  and  the  guards  to  be  drawn  out.39  The  body 
of  the  unfortunate  Concini  was  dragged  by  the 
hair  of  the  head  to  a  porter's  lodge  at  hand  and 
ignominiously  cast  upon  a  heap  of  straw.  Vitry 
then  entered  the  palace  and  publicly  received  the 
royal  thanks,  having  first  excused  himself  on  the 
execution  done,  on  the  plea,  "  that  M.  d'Ancre 
offered  such  resistance  as  to  render  his  arrest 
impossible."  The  grand  gallery  of  the  Louvre, 
meantime,  became  crowded  with  courtiers,  aghast 
at  the  catastrophe.  Presently  appeared  Richelieu, 
bishop  of  Lu9on,  who  stealthily  approached  to 
gather  tidings  for  his  mistress,  Queen  Marie.  The 
King,  Richelieu  relates,  was  standing  on  a 


1617]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  35 

billiard-table,  talking  excitedly,  and  receiving  the 
congratulations  of  his  court.40  A  few  hours  after, 
Vitry  was  sent  on  a  mission  to  arrest  the  Marquise 
d'Ancre.  The  unfortunate  woman  was  ill  in  bed; 
she  was  roughly  aroused  and  conveyed  to  a 
prison-chamber  in  the  Louvre,  and  a  few  days 
subsequently  transported  to  the  Bastille,  after 
undergoing  a  severe  interrogatory,  and  from 
thence  to  that  prison,  in  all  ages  of  fatal  omen,  the 
Conciergerie.  Marie  de'  Medici  was  next  forbidden 
to  leave  her  apartments  ;  her  regiment  of  guards 
was  broken  ;  and  the  Louvre  committed  to  the 
safe  keeping  of  the  Marshal  de  Vitry.  The  body 
of  the  deceased  marquis  was  wrapped  in  a  cere- 
cloth, and  buried  at  midnight  in  an  obscure  grave 
under  the  organ  gallery  of  the  church  of  St.  Ger- 
main 1'Auxerrois.  The  populace,  however,  on  the 
morrow  violated  the  grave,  and  tearing  the  body 
therefrom  dragged  it  through  the  streets  of  Paris, 
and  after  frightful  mutilations,  hung  it  by  the  feet 
from  a  gibbet.  Three  days  after  this  assassina- 
tion, an  edict  emanated  from  the  royal  pen  be- 
stowing the  immense  confiscation  of  the  property 
of  the  Marquis  d'Ancre  on  M.  de  Luynes,  to- 
gether with  the  diamonds  and  parures  of  his  wife 
—a  collection  so  magnificent  as  to  equal,  if  not 
surpass,  the  contents  of  the  jewel-caskets  of  the 
Queen-mother.41 

M.  de  Luynes  42  had  now  scaled  the  perilous 
eminence  of  royal  favour  :  he  had  attained  to 
princely  wealth,  and  needed  only  a  suitable 
matrimonial  alliance  to  confirm  his  fortunes  and 


36  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [iei2- 

to  win,  as  he  hoped,  the  favour  of  Queen  Anne  of 
Austria. 


1  MS.  Bibl.  Imp.  Colbert  500,  vol.  140,  p.  32.      Mem.  de  Wicquefort, 
t.  1,  p.  4. 

2  Histoire  de  la  Mere  et  du  Fils,  t.  1.      This  history  was  written  by 
the  Cardinal  de  Richelieu,  and  published  during  the  cardinal's  lifetime, 
under  the  name  of  Eudes  de  Mezeray,  who  was  historiographer  to  the 
king. 

3  Jean  Louis  Nogaret  de  la  Valette,  Due  d'Epernon,  born  in  1554. 
The  Duke,  a  cadet  of  La  Valette,  was  raised  to  his  dignities  by  King 
Henri  III.,  whose  favourite  he  became.  He  married  Marguerite  de  Foix 
Candale,  a  princess  allied  to  the  blood  royal.     The  Duke  d'Epernon 
died  in  1646,  at  the  age  of  88.    "  Tout  chez  lui  etait  splendeur  et  faste." 

4  Ferdinand  1st,  Cardinal,  Grand-Duke  of  Tuscany.  His  consort  was 
Christine  de  Lorraine,  daughter  of  Duke  Charles  III.  of  Lorraine,  and  of 
Claude  de  France,  daughter  of  Henri  II.  and  Catherine  de'  Medici. 

6  Don  Francisco  Rojos  de  Sandoval,  Duke  of  Lerma,  minister  and 
favourite  of  Philip  III.,  King  of  Spain. 

6  Marguerite  of  Austria,  daughter  of  Charles,  Archduke  of  Gratzen, 
and  niece  of  the  Emperor  Maximilian  II. 

7  See  History  of  Don  Sebastian,  King  of  Portugal,  chap.  3. 

8  Leonard,  Contrats  et  Traites  de  Paix,  etc.  MS.  Archives  de  Siman- 
cas,  K.  22,  quoted  by  Capefigue,  Vie  d'Anne  d'Autriche. 

9  Dreux  du  Radier,  Vie  d'Anne  d'Autriche. 

10  Godefroy,  L'Ordre  et  Ceremonies  observees  au  Manage  de  Philip 
IV.  (then  Prince  of  the  Asturias)  avec  Madame  Elizabeth,  fille    de 
Henri  le  Grand — Grand  Ceremonial  de  France,  pp.  70,  et  seq. 

11  The  three  brothers  bore  the  names  of  Luynes,  Brantes,  and  Cade- 
net.     The  eldest,  Charles  d' Albert  de  Luynes,  was  born  in  1578.     His 
godfather  was  Henri  Quatre  (Mercure  de  France,  t.  v.),  which  fact  at 
once  contradicts  the  stories  current  at  court  of  the  plebeian  origin  of  the 
brothers.     He  was  created  Duke  de  Luynes  and  Constable  of  France  ; 
Brantes  was  created  Duke  de  Luxembourg,  on  his  marriage  with  the 
daughter  of  the  Prince  de  Tingry ;    Cadenet  was  created  Duke  de 
Chaulnes,  on  his  marriage  with  the  daughter  and  heiress  of  the  Vidame 
d' Amiens,  ML  de  Pequigny. 

12  Journal  du  Roy  Louis  XIII.,  par  M.  Jehan  Herouard,  son  Premier 
Medecin.— MS.  Bibl.  Imp.  Colbert,  2601.     6  vols.  in  fol. 

13  "  Le  8,  Mercredi,  1614,  le  Roy  pour  la  premiere  fois  va  a  la  chasse, 
M.  de  Souvre  aussi  luy  fait  prendre  une  jupe  de  chasse  fourree  de  martes ; 
la  prend  avec  regret,  disant  que  tout  ceux  qui  le  verront  se  moqueront  de 
luy,  qu'il  est  habille  en  paysan.     II  conteste  jusqu'a  une  heure  et  demie  ; 


1617]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  37 

enfin,  il  s'y  resout  et  va  voler  le  milan  a  la  plaine  de  Crenelle,  ou  il 
monte  a  cheval  et  prend  le  milan.  Estant  de  retour,  fait  Jeter  le  milan 
par  la  fenestre  et  luy  donne  la  vie."  ..."  Le  19,  Dimanche,  nourrit 
deux  petits  coqs,  et  pour  les  rendre  courageux,  leur  donne  du  vin  de 
clairet." 

14  Godefroy,  Grand  Cerem.,  t.  2,  pp.  60-80. 

15  Charlotte  Marguerite  de  Montmorency,  daughter  of  Henri  Constable 
de  Montmorency. 

16  Louise  Marguerite  de  Lorraine  Guise,  daughter  of  Henri  Due  de 
Guise,  slain  at  Blois,  1588. 

17  Henriette  de  Joyeuse,  who  had  first  espoused  the  Duke  de  Mont- 
pensier. 

18  Franchise   de    Lorraine  Mercoeur.     Her   husband  was    the  son  of 
Henri  IV.  and  Gabrielle  d'Estrees. 

19  MS.  Archives  de  Simancas,  A.  No.  65,  quoted  by  M.  Capefigue. 

20  Tallemant,  that  cruel  satirist,  writes,  "  Le  roi  commen9a  par  son 
cocher  Saint-Amour  a  temoigner  de  1'affection  pour  quelqu'un.     II 
voulut  envoyer  quelqu'un  qui  lui  put  bien  rapporter  comme  la  princesse 
d'Espagne  etait  faite.     II  se  servit  pour  cela  du  pere  de  son  cocher, 
comme  si  c'eut  ete  pour  voir  des  chevaux." — Hist.  79. 

81  Capefigue,  Vie  d'Anne  d'Autriche. — MS.  Simancas,  B.  5. 

22  Ibid. 

23  Godefroy,  Grand  Cerem.  de  France,  t.  2,  p.  70,  et  seq. 

24  Godefroy,  Grand  Cerem.  de  France,  t.  2,  p.  84. — Brief  Narre  de  ce 
qui  s'est  passe  a  Bordeaux  depuis  le  21  de  Novembre  jusqu'au  29  du 
memo  mois. 

25  The  instructions  given  to  Anne  of  Austria,  before  she  quitted  Spain, 
still  exist  in  their  original  draught  at  Simancas.   The  young  Queen  was 
exhorted  to  court  the  Queen-mother.   It  appears  that  Anne,  young  as 
she  was,  had  already  given  tokens  of  ability  for  intrigue  and  dissimula- 
tion.    The  instructions  contain  this  phrase  :    "  Avienterla  que  aunque 
no  paresce  sabe  mucho,  este  muger  sabe  mucho !  "    It  is  there  also 
laid  down  as  an  injunction  by  the  Spanish  Government,  that  informa- 
tion of  the  opinions  and  intended  measures  of  the  French  Government 
were  to  be  obtained  by  the  Queen  at  any  cost  or  risk  whatever. 

26  Don  Hettore  Pignatello,  Duke  of  Montel6one,  and  Viceroy  over 
Catalonia. 

17  Capefigue,  Vie  d'Anne  d'Autriche. — Archives  de  Simancas,  A.  74. 

28  Ibid. 

29  Concini  had  purchased  in   1610,  a  few  months  after  the  death  of 
Henri  Quatre,  the  marquisate  d'Ancre,  for  the  sum  of  130,000  livres. 

30  Histoire  de  la  Mere  et  du  Fils,  annee  1617. 

31  Journal  de  ma  Vie. 

32  All  kinds  of    evil    suspicions    were    engendered  by  the  Queen's 
familiarity  with  Concini.     The  Count  de  Lude  one  day  being  present 
when  one  of  Marie's  ladies  was  sent  to   bring  her  Majesty's  veil, 


38  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA 

exclaimed,  sotto  voce,  "  Un  vaisseau  qui  est  d  Vancre  n'a  pas  besoin  de 
voile."  Which  piece  of  wit  flew  throughout  Paris. — Tallemant ;  Dreux 
du  Radier. 

33  Bassompierre,  Hist,  de  ma  Vie. — Histoire  de  la  Mere  et  du  Fils. 

34  Mem.  Anecdotes,  ou  Galerie  des  Personnages  de  la  Cour  de  France, 
sous  les  Regnes  de  Henri  IV.  et  Louis  XIII. 

35  Bassompierre,  Journal  de  ma  Vie. 

36  Capefigue,  Anne  d'Autriche,  p.  44. — MS.  de  Simancas,  A.  74. 

37  The  name  of  this  person  was  du  Buisson. 

38  Journal  de  ma  Vie,  Bassompierre. 

39  Hist,  des  plus  Illustres  Favoris,  Dupuy, — Elzevir,  in  8vo.     Journal 
de  ma  Vie,  Bassompierre. — Le  Vasso'r,  Hist,  de  Louis  XIII. 

40  "  Ah,  M.  de  LuQon,"  exclaimed  the  King,  slyly,  "  me  voila  enfin 
Roi !  " 

41  Immense  possessions  in  valuables  fell  also  to  the  lot  of  the  lucky 
favourite.     In  a  cabinet  in  the  apartment  of  the  marquis  a  casket  was 
found  containing  jewels  to  the  amount  of  200,000  francs.     M.  d'Ancre 
had  had  the  precaution  to  invest  large  sums  of  money  in  foreign 
securities  :    these  sums  some  of  the  sovereigns  refused  to  pay  over  to 
M.  de  Luynes  ;   others  obeyed  the  wish  of  King  Louis.     The  son  of 
the  marquis,  however,  eventually  came  into  the  possession  of  about 
16,000  livres  of  annual  revenue. 

42  A  popular  song  of  the  period,  sung  about   all  the  streets  of  the 
capital,  spoke  thus  of  de  Luynes  and  his  brothers — 

D'Enfer  le  chien  a  trois  tetes 
Garde  1'huis  avec  effroi ; 
En  France  trois  grosses  betes 
Gardent  d'approcher  le  Roy  ! 


CHAPTER  II 
1617-1625 

ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  AND  THE  DUKE  OF  BUCKINGHAM 

THE  catastrophe  which  had  overthrown  the 
reigning  powers  of  the  court  did  not  at  first  affect 
the  daily  life  of  the  young  Queen.  The  King  and 
de  Luynes  being  both  secretly  uneasy  at  the 
success  of  their  plot,  sought  solace  by  appealing 
to  Anne's  sympathy  and  co-operation.  On  the 
day  of  the  death  of  the  Marquis,  Louis  dined  with 
his  consort,  and  affected  an  ease  and  merriment 
which  he  was  far  from  feeling.  Numerous  arrests 
followed  the  coup  d'etat :  all  the  chief  adherents  of 
the  Queen-mother  were  exiled  or  lost  office.  As 
for  Marie  herself,  she  remained  under  guard  in  her 
apartments.1  Louis  sent  a  message  to  his  mother, 
stating  his  intention  to  assume  the  conduct  of 
affairs  and  praying  her  Majesty  to  absent  her- 
self for  a  period  from  Paris,  by  doing  which  she 
would  enable  him  to  prove  himself,  as  always,  her 
dutiful  and  devoted  son.  The  greatest  fear  was 
manifested  by  de  Luynes  lest  the  Queen  should 
obtain  an  interview  with  her  son,  and  to  keep 
the  two  apart  was  the  anxious  aim  of  this  subtle 
plotter.  Louis  displayed  unnatural  indifference 
to  the  position  of  his  mother,  and  suffered  various 
plans  for  her  safe  custody  to  be  discussed  in  his 
presence,  the  speakers  permitting  themselves  the 

39 


40  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1617- 

utmost  latitude  in  censuring  her  demerits.  At 
length  it  was  resolved  to  send  the  Queen  to  Blois 
in  a  condition  of  semi-captivity.  Marie  sullenly 
acquiesced,  but  asked  permission  before  her  de- 
parture to  see  the  King,  and  to  take  leave  of  the 
princesses  and  ladies  of  the  court.  The  interview 
was  reluctantly  granted  by  the  King,  or  permitted 
by  de  Luynes.  It  was  then  resolved  that  the 
Queen's  farewell  should  be  made  in  the  presence 
of  the  newly-appointed  ministers,  and  that  Marie 
should  bind  herself  to  say  nothing  to  her  son  but 
the  words  contained  on  a  paper  forwarded  to 
her  through  the  Bishop  of  Lu9on.  The  conditions 
were  hard  on  the  fallen  Queen  ;  the  new  ministers 
were  men  whom  she  had  mortally  offended,  and 
whom  she  had  dismissed  soon  after  her  accession  to 
power.  The  majority  were  the  old  ministers  of 
Henri  Quatre,  who  were  cordially  greeted  by  the 
people  on  their  resumption  of  office.  The  King 
entered  his  mother's  apartment  hand  in  hand 
with  M.  de  Luynes,  and  preceded  by  the  two 
brothers  of  the  latter,  Cadenet  and  Brantes  ;  his 
Majesty  was  also  attended  by  Villeroy,  Jeannin, 
Gesvres,  Sillery  du  Vair  and  others. 

The  Queen  approached  and  made  the  speech 
which  she  had  promised  to  utter ;  it  merely 
stated  her  anxious  desire  for  his  Majesty's  pros- 
perity, and  her  sorrow  at  having  incurred  his  dis- 
pleasure. Marie  then  lowered  her  voice,  and  said 
some  beseeching  words.  The  King,  however, 
hastily  assured  his  mother  of  his  affectionate 
care,  but  that  he  was  now  King  and  would  suffer 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  41 

no  colleague  in  the  government.     His  Majesty, 
making  a   low  bow,   then  took   his   leave.     De 
Luynes  next  approached  and  kissed  the  Queen's 
robe  ;   Marie  spoke  a  few  words  in  a  whisper  ;   she 
then  requested  his  intercession  for  the  steward  of 
her  household,  M.  Barbin.     Before  Luynes  could 
reply,  the  voice  of  the  King  was  heard  calling 
from   the    bottom    of   the    staircase,    "  Luynes  ! 
Luynes  !  ':     The  latter  then  withdrew  in  silence 
and  rejoined  his  royal  master.     The  doors  of  the 
Queen's  apartments  were  then  thrown  open,  and 
during  the  whole  afternoon  she  received  the  fare- 
well visits  of  the  court.2     Marie's  self-command 
was  amazing,  and  it  is  asserted  that  throughout 
her  bitter  ordeal  she  never  shed  a  tear.     This  firm- 
ness disquieted  the  coward  heart  of  M.  de  Luynes, 
as  he  attributed  her  Majesty's  composure  to  the 
fierceness  of  her  wrath  and    her  craving  for  re- 
venge, which  swallowed  up  every  minor  feeling. 
This  opinion,  it  is  averred,  induced  him  to  sanction 
the  persecution  of  Marie's  servants  which  ensued, 
as  he  hoped  to  render  a  reconciliation  impossible. 
Some  of  the  ladies  of  the  court  wept  at  this  part- 
ing interview.     Marie  coldly  remarked  :    "  Mes- 
dames,  weep  not  for  me  ;  it  is  long  ago  since  I 
requested  the  King  to  relieve  me  from  the  burden 
of  his  affairs.     If  my  actions  have  displeased  the 
King,  I  feel  also  displeased  with  myself  ;    never- 
theless, I  know  that  some  day  his  Majesty  will 
acknowledge  that  all  that  I  have  done  has  been 
just  and  politic.     As  for  the  Marquis  d'Ancre,  I 
pray  for  his  soul ;   I  pray  also  that  the  King  may 


42  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          |1617- 

be  pardoned  for  the  crime  by  which  he  was  per- 
suaded to  remove  him  !  "  Marie  shed  a  few  tears 
on  parting  with  her  little  son,  Gaston  Duke  of 
Orleans,  then  in  his  ninth  year  ;  she  also  very 
affectionately  kissed  her  daughters,  Mesdames 
Christine  and  Marie  Henriette.  The  young 
Queen  does  not  seem  to  have  paid  her  mother-in- 
law  any  visit  of  farewell ;  but  as  Queen  Marie 
entered  her  coach  to  leave  Paris  in  the  evening* 
the  King  and  Queen  surveyed  the  cortege  from  a 
window  of  the  palace,  and  both  bowed  their  fare- 
wells. The  streets  of  Paris  were  thronged  with 
spectators,  by  whom  the  demeanour  of  the  depart- 
ing Queen  was  scanned  with  curious  eye.  No 
enthusiasm,  no  words  of  sympathy  diminished  the 
humiliation  of  Marie's  exit  from  the  capital  over 
which  she  had  so  long  and  imperiously  reigned. 
Marie  was  attended  by  the  officers  of  her  house- 
hold, including  the  Bishop  of  Lugon,  who  then 
filled  the  post  of  her  Majesty's  secretaire  des 
commandements. 

The  King  and  Queen  left  Paris  immediately 
after  the  Queen-mother  and  repaired  to  Vin- 
cennes.  From  thence  edicts  were  issued  which 
displaced  most  of  the  public  officers  nominated 
during  the  regency.  Bar  bin,  the  trusted  servant 
of  the  Queen-mother,  was  consigned  to  the 
Bastille,  and  the  trial  of  the  unfortunate  Mar- 
quise d'Ancre  was  commenced,  and  brought  to  a 
termination  by  a  sentence  of  decapitation.  This 
decree  was  executed  on  the  8th  of  July,  1617,  the 
miserable  and  half -insane  woman  being  condemned 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  43 

as  a  witch  and  guilty  of  high  treason  in  the  sight 
of  God  and  man.3 

The  "  poor  little  Cadet  of  Albert  "  was  now 
the  grandest  gentleman  of  the  realm,  and  the 
owners  of  the  most  illustrious  names  in  France 
bowed  before  the  resplendency  of  his  power. 
Endowed  with  the  wealth  of  Concini,  adored  by 
the  King,  and  the  partner  of  his  Majesty's  weekly 
raids  on  the  "  pies  grieches  "  of  the  royal  domains, 
de  Luynes  prospered.  Grand  alliances,  however, 
were  necessary  to  give  permanent  lustre  to  this 
splendour.  While  the  miserable  little  son  of  the 
Marshal  d'Ancre,  who  once  bore  the  name  of 
Conte  de  Pena,  had  become  a  beggar,  charitably 
sheltered  in  the  hotel  of  the  Count  de  Fiesque — 
and  who,  a  few  hours  after  the  cruel  execution  of 
his  mother,  had  been  compelled  to  execute  a  sara- 
band with  one  of  Anne's  Spanish  maidens  for  the 
diversion  of  her  Majesty 4 — de  Luynes  availed 
himself  of  the  wealth  of  which  Concini  had  been 
despoiled  to  purchase  a  wife  whose  rank  might 
accord  with  the  altitude  of  his  fortune.  Hercule 
de  Rohan,  Duke  de  Montbazon,  Governor  of  Paris 
and  1'Ile  de  France,  had  at  this  period  an  only 
daughter,  Marie  de  Rohan,  by  his  deceased  wife, 
Madelaine  de  Laval  Lenoncourt.  Mademoiselle  de 
Montbazon,  who  had  just  completed  seventeen 
years,  was  a  charming  and  beautiful  girl,  gifted 
with  extraordinary  powers  of  intellect,  but  wilful, 
wayward,  daring,  proud  of  her  princely  lineage, 
and  disposed  to  dispute  the  pas  with  any  dame 
of  the  court.  Marie  possessed  a  witty  and  an 


44  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1617- 

audacious  tongue  ;  she  loved  splendour,  and  the 
gorgeous  attire  which  set  off  her  noble  figure.  She 
belonged  to  the  band  of  the  Queen's  maids  of 
honour  ;  but  hitherto  the  freedom  of  Mademoi- 
selle de  Montbazon's  humour  had  debarred  her 
from  the  favour  of  her  royal  mistress,  whose  rigid 
Spanish  etiquette  was  severely  shocked  by  the 
abandon,  only  however  of  manner,  in  which  Marie 
indulged.  This  future  famous  favourite  of  Anne 
of  Austria  had  been  attached  to  the  court  for 
about  eighteen  months,  without  eliciting  a  single 
mark  of  regard  from  the  young  Queen,  when  M.  de 
Luynes  demanded  her  hand.  The  courtiers  heard 
with  incredulous  bewilderment  that  the  son  of 
"  ce  petit  capitaine  de  Luynes"  the  once  indigent 
protege  of  the  Count  de  Lude,  aspired  to  alliance 
with  the  princely  Rohans,  kinsmen  of  his  Majesty 
Louis  XIII.  The  Duke  de  Montbazon  was  a 
good-natured  nobleman,  benevolent  in  his  con- 
descensions, but  renowned  at  court  for  his  ludi- 
crous and  ignorant  blunders  and  for  his  total 
want  of  discrimination.  The  Duke's  bevues  were 
so  common  that  he  was  declared  to  be  the  hero 
of  every  laughable  misadventure  which  diverted 
the  court.  M.  de  Montbazon  was  completely 
ruled  by  his  high-spirited  daughter,  and  as  he 
revered  few  things  not  present  to  his  visual  com- 
prehension, and  finding  that  the  parvenu  de 
Luynes  had  attained  to  a  rank  and  splendour 
hitherto  denied  to  the  blood  of  Rohan,  he 
graciously  consented  to  the  alliance  when  pro- 
posed to  him  by  his  Sovereign.  The  handsome 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  45 

person  of  the  young  favourite  5  had  favourably 
impressed  Mademoiselle  de  Montbazon :  "  To 
hate  M.  de  Luynes,"  says  a  contemporary,  "  it  was 
necessary  not  to  have  seen  him,  for  he  had  so 
pleasant  and  affable  an  expression  of  countenance 
that  many  foes  were  thereby  after  an  interview 
converted  into  friends."  The  fortunate  favourite, 
moreover,  was  all-powerful  to  flatter  and  pro- 
pitiate the  foibles  of  the  haughty  Marie.  The 
King  promised  to  erect  the  estate  of  Maille  near  to 
Tours,  purchased  by  de  Luynes,  into  a  duche 
pairie  if  this  marriage  was  accomplished.  Most 
of  the  high  offices  filled  by  the  Marquis  d'Ancre 
were  transferred  to  de  Luynes.  Louis,  moreover, 
promised  to  nominate  the  Duchess  de  Luynes 
surintendente  de  la  maison  de  la  Reine,  an  office 
which  conferred  almost  absolute  power  over  the 
Queen's  household,  and  to  possess  which,  it  is 
thought,  greatly  influenced  the  decision  of  Made- 
moiselle de  Montbazon.  De  Luynes,  in  addition, 
bribed  the  good  graces  of  his  lady-love  by  magni- 
ficent gifts  ;  and,  as  crowning  tokens  of  his  devo- 
tion, he  obtained  for  her,  previous  to  her  marriage, 
the  much-coveted  tabouret  or  a  folding-seat  in  the 
presence  of  the  Queen — a  privilege  which  no  prin- 
cess of  the  house  of  Rohan,  either  married  or 
single,  had  before  enjoyed  ;  and  lastly,  he  laid  at 
the  feet  of  his  mistress  the  magnificent  diamonds 
of  the  unfortunate  Marquise  d'Ancre — a  casket  of 
which  a  queen  might  have  been  proud.  The  mar- 
riage took  place  in  the  month  of  August,  1617, 
and  the  King  created  his  favourite,  according 


46  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1617- 

to  his  promise,  Duke  de  Luynes,  and  installed 
him  as  first  minister  of  the  crown.  Louis  also 
fulfilled  his  promise  relative  to  the  new  Duchess 
de  Luynes,  who  was  appointed  grandmistress  of 
the  palace  and  chief  lady  of  her  Majesty's  house- 
hold.6 A  feminine  revolt  followed  this  appoint- 
ment. Anne  absolutely  refused  to  accept  the 
services  of  a  princess  who,  she  said,  was  personally 
disagreeable  to  her.  The  Condesa  de  las  Torres 
protested  against  the  assumption  by  Madame  de 
Luynes  of  power  over  the  camarera  mayor  ;  the 
good  and  virtuous  Duchesse  de  Montmorency, 
first  dame  du  palais,  gave  in  her  resignation,  "  as, 
being  the  widow  of  the  late  Constable  de  Mont- 
morency, she  could  not  retain  a  subordinate  office 
in  the  royal  household."  The  result  of  these 
squabbles  was  that  the  King  never  visited  his 
consort  for  six  weeks.  The  Spanish  Ambassador, 
moved  by  the  distress  of  the  Queen,  thereupon 
sought  audience  of  the  Duke  de  Luynes  to  be 
officially  informed  of  the  source  of  the  fracas. 
Luynes  replied  that  the  King  hated  the  Spanish 
ladies  of  his  consort's  household,  especially  Ma- 
dame de  las  Torres  and  the  old  Duchess  of  Ville- 
quieras,  her  Majesty's  former  governess ;  but 
that  this  latter  lady  was  so  repugnant  to  the  King 
that  Louis  had  resolved  never  again  to  share  her 
Majesty's  apartment  until  after  the  departure  of 
the  said  Duchess.7  Monteleone  faithfully  re- 
ported the  matter  to  Philip  III.,  who,  without 
further  parley,  recalled  all  the  Spanish  ladies, 
much  to  the  distress  and  indignation  of  the  Queen. 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  47 

Anne,  meantime,  had  been  so  excited  by  the 
vexatious  events  of  the  year  that  about  the 
month  of  November  she  fell  dangerously  ill  of  low 
fever.  The  King  showed  much  solicitude  during 
the  dangerous  crisis  of  the  malady  and  frequently 
visited  her  sick-chamber.  On  learning  the  danger 
of  her  young  mistress,  the  Duchess  de  Mont- 
morency  returned  to  the  Louvre  and  generously 
helped  Madame  de  Luynes  to  discharge  her  func- 
tions at  her  Majesty's  bedside,  for  etiquette 
required  that  a  duchess  should  replace  the  surin- 
tendente  during  those  intervals  when  leave  of 
absence  was  requisite  for  repose  and  refreshment. 
Anne's  recovery  was  tedious.  The  Ambassador 
Monteleone  despatched  weekly  expresses  to 
Madrid  with  news  of  her  health.  He  prays  Philip 
to  send  his  daughter  a  quantity  of  oranges 
"  similar  to  those  your  Majesty  sent  last  year, 
which  arrived  as  fresh  as  if  just  gathered  from  the 
tree."  Monteleone  proceeds  to  congratulate  King 
Philip  on  the  improved  relations  subsisting  be- 
tween the  royal  pair,  and  states  that  the  King 
evidently  greatly  admired  his  consort,  who  was 
growing  up  a  beautiful  and  graceful  woman  ;  also, 
that  the  King  often  proudly  alluded  to  the  incom- 
parable complexion  of  his  wife  and  remarked  her 
abundant  fair  hair,  "  in  which  attractions  she  had 
not  a  rival  in  France." 

Louis,  about  whom  all  these  anxious  specu- 
lations flowed,  had  now  completed  his  eighteenth 
year ;  but  the  monarch  who  had  just  exiled  his 
mother,  who  held  the  first  prince  of  the  blood 


48  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [iei7- 

a  captive  in  the  Bastille,  and  who  had  raised 
an  obscure  favourite  to  the  altitude  of  a  duke  and 
minister  in  chief,  is  described  by  Bassompierre 
as  "  amusing  himself  by  little  games  and  devices, 
such  as  painting  little  pictures,  singing,  making 
little  models  with  quills  of  the  fountains  at  St. 
Germain,  and  by  drumming — for  his  Majesty  was 
a  skilful  drummer." 8  "Bassompierre,"  said  his 
Majesty  one  day,  "  I  must  now  begin  to  practise 
on  the  horn  ;  some  day  I  will  waken  the  echoes 
in  my  forests  !  "  "  Sire,"  replied  the  skilful  cour- 
tier, "  I  do  not  advise  such  exercise.  Charles  IX., 
it  is  said,  ruptured  a  blood-vessel  by  blowing  the 
horn  I  "  "  You  are  mistaken,"  promptly  replied 
his  Majesty  ;  "  the  King  only  quarrelled  with  his 
mother,  Catherine  de'  Medici,  and  kept  her  at 
Monceaux.  Now,  if  the  King  had  followed  the 
good  advice  of  M.  de  Retz,  and  had  not  returned 
to  her,  he  would  not  have  died  at  the  early  age 
which  he  did  !  "  "  From  that  period,"  remarks 
Bassompierre,9  "  I  took  heed  never  to  mention  the 
Queen-mother  in  the  presence  of  the  King,  finding 
that  his  fears  had  been  excited  respecting  her." 

Marie  de'  Medici  during  this  interval,  wearied 
of  the  insults  daily  inflicted,  fled  from  Blois,  with 
the  aid  of  her  old  friend  Epernon,  and  had  re- 
tired under  his  escort  to  Loches,  where  she 
threatened  the  realm  with  civil  war.  On  the  21st 
of  February,  1619,  the  Queen  escaped  from  the 
castle  by  a  window  120  feet  from  the  ground,  by 
means  of  a  rope-ladder  sent  to  her  by  Epernon.10 
Her  two  women  followed  and  her  chevalier 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  49 

d'honneur,  the  Count  de  Brennes.  A  coach  was  in 
waiting,  in  which  her  Majesty  entered  and  took 
the  road  towards  Montrichard.  She  was  met  out- 
side the  town  of  Blois  by  the  Cardinal  de  la 
Valette,  then  Archbishop  of  Toulouse,  with  300 
gentlemen,  who  accompanied  her  to  the  fortress 
of  Loches,  where  Marie  was  rapturously  wel- 
comed by  Epernon  and  afterwards  received  an 
oath  of  fidelity  from  the  soldiers  of  the  garrison. 
The  utmost  panic  seized  the  King  and  his  mini- 
sters when  they  heard  of  this  event.  Louis  re- 
turned to  Paris  from  St.  Germain  to  hold  council, 
at  which  it  was  determined  to  send  le  P.  Berulle 
to  negotiate,  whose  brain  was  thought  to  be 
a  match  for  that  of  the  subtle  Richelieu,  whom 
her  Majesty,  on  arriving  at  Loches,  had  sum- 
moned. Bentivoglio,  who  then  filled  the  post  of 
Nuncio  at  the  court  of  France,  caused  this  sugges- 
tion to  be  conveyed  to  the  privy  council.  Although 
most  of  the  great  peers  of  France  had  returned  to 
their  duty  on  the  downfall  of  Concini,  yet  the  ele- 
ments of  revolt  were  not  extinct  in  France.  More- 
over, the  courts  of  Parliament  throughout  the 
realm  had  interceded  for  the  Queen-mother,  la 
veuve  de  Henri  IV.,  and  had  exhorted  the  King  to 
be  reconciled  with  her.  At  court  she  had  many 
ardent  partisans,  such  as  Bassompierre,  Guise, 
Bellegarde  and  others.  It  was,  therefore,  now 
deemed  by  Luynes  to  be  a  politic  and  popular 
course  to  disarm  her  Majesty  by  negotiation,  and 
to  propose  an  interview  of  reconciliation  with  the 
King.  The  Cardinal  de  la  Rochefoucault  was 


50  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1617- 

despatched  to  offer  to  the  Queen  the  government 
of  Anjou,  with  the  fortresses  of  Angers,  Pont  de 
Ce,  and  Chinon,  provided  that  she  consented  to 
relinquish  the  government  of  Normandy.  The 
Prince  of  Piedmont,  whose  recent  marriage  with 
the  Princess  Christine  without  the  consent  or  par- 
ticipation of  the  Queen-mother  had  filled  the 
measure  of  Marie's  grievances,11  now  made  repara- 
tion by  visiting  her  Majesty  at  Angouleme.  The 
Duke  de  Montbazon  also  made  the  same  pilgrim- 
age on  behalf  of  his  son-in-law  de  Luynes,  to  ex- 
press the  earnest  desire  of  the  latter  for  reconcilia- 
tion. Marie,  by  the  counsel  of  Richelieu,  accepted 
the  proposals  and  overtures  of  her  son,  and  pro- 
mised to  join  the  court  at  Tours.12  The  young 
Queen,  therefore,  journeyed  from  Paris  to  Tours, 
where  she  made  a  sojourn  of  three  months.  After 
the  meeting  and  reconciliation  between  Louis  and 
his  mother,  the  King  set  out  for  the  south  of 
France,  attended  by  his  favourite,  to  restore  the 
Catholic  faith  throughout  Beam,  while  Anne  re- 
turned to  Paris,  having  received  a  promise  from 
Queen  Marie  to  join  her  there  after  she  had 
visited  her  new  government  of  Anjou  and  the 
fortresses  ceded  in  that  province. 

During  the  next  two  years  the  history  of  the 
young  Queen  presents  few  incidents  worthy  of  re- 
cord. Her  great  grief,  and  the  chief  topic  of  the 
Spanish  Ambassador,  the  Marquis  de  Mirabel,  who 
had  succeeded  Monteleone  in  the  Paris  embassage, 
was  the  devotion  manifested  by  the  King  for  the 
young  and  brilliant  Duchess  de  Luynes,  who 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  51 

first  moved  the  heart  of  Louis  Treize,  and  taught 
his  Majesty  some  of  the  tender  refinements  of  la 
belle  passion.  "  The  King,"  writes  the  Ambassa- 
dor, "  abounds  in  courtesies  and  attentions  for  the 
Duchess  de  Luynes  :  I  have,  nevertheless,  good 
hope  that  the  worst  suspicions  take  rise  only  in 
the  excited  fancy  of  the  Infanta-queen  and  in  the 
malicious  tattlings  of  her  women.  The  King,  I 
believe,  is  too  wise  and  virtuous  to  merit  the  impu- 
tation of  criminal  intrigue.  Your  Majesty  should 
exhort  the  Queen  to  propitiate  her  husband,  and 
to  render  herself  agreeable  and  necessary  to  him 
by  the  thousand  little  coquetteries  proper  to  en- 
chain and  entice  volatile  hearts."  Anne  was  too 
haughty  and  resentful  to  profit  by  such  counsel ; 
she  adopted  with  the  Duchess  de  Luynes  a  distant 
and  condescending  demeanour,  but  towards  the 
King  her  manner  was  grave,  serious,  and  respect- 
ful. Louis,  at  this  period,  showed  great  considera- 
tion for  his  consort  in  public  ;  nor  was  it  until  he 
fell  again  under  the  baneful  influence  of  the  Queen- 
mother  that  those  miserable  domestic  tracasseries 
commenced  which  poisoned  his  existence.  The 
Nuncio  Bentivoglio  mentions  even  that,  during 
the  absence  of  the  King  from  Paris  in  1620 — to 
subdue  the  menaced  insurrection  excited  by  the 
distrust  of  Marie  de'  Medici  in  the  provinces  re- 
cently confided  to  her — the  young  Queen,  "  to  the 
joy  of  everybody,"  daily  presided  at  the  council 
of  state.  These  days  were  the  brightest  and  most 
prosperous  of  Anne's  married  life. 

A  shadow  at  this  period  was,  nevertheless,  cast 


52  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1617- 

over  the  content  of  the  Queen  by  the  anger  which 
Louis  displayed  at  the  assiduities  manifested  to- 
wards her  by  the  Dukes  de  Montmorency  and  de 
Bellegarde.  M.  de  Luynes  was  even  one  day  com- 
pelled to  leave  the  circle,  at  the  peremptory  com- 
mand of  his  royal  master,  for  having  presumed  to 
press  to  his  lips  a  flower  which  had  fallen  from  a 
bouquet  worn  by  her  Majesty.  This  boyish  petu- 
lance, and  his  own  neglect  of  her  in  private, 
angered  the  Queen,  who  now  having  attained  to 
woman's  estate,  and  being  conscious  of  her  charms, 
resented  the  querulous  tyranny  to  which  she  was 
often  subjected.  The  Duchess  de  Luynes  mean- 
time lived  in  the  greatest  harmony  with  her  par- 
venu lord,  spite  of  the  prevalent  rumours  respect- 
ing her  intimacy  with  her  liege.13  She  espoused 
the  interests  of  the  Duke  with  that  energy  for 
which  she  was  renowned  ;  the  palace  under  her 
sway  was  a  model  of  order  and  discipline,  never- 
theless, she  never  at  this  period  succeeded  in  gain- 
ing even  the  coldest  approval  from  her  royal 
mistress.  Anne  had  a  pungent  tongue  and  her 
memory  was  seldom  at  fault ;  the  Queen,  there- 
fore, in  her  circle  often  in  the  most  naive  manner 
alluded  to  reminiscences  which  the  superb  minister 
would  fain  have  forgotten.  His  four  years  of  rule, 
however,  had  weakened  his  influence  with  the 
King,  who  could  not  endure  the  brightness  of  the 
light  which  he  himself  had  kindled.  The  lips  of 
Louis  often  turned  white  with  passion  as  he  beheld 
the  homage  exacted  by  de  Luynes,  "  Le  Roy 
Luynes,"  as  he  bitterly  murmured.14  Neverthe- 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  53 

less,  with  strange  inconsistency,  in  the  year  1621, 
Louis  conferred  the  sword  of  Constable  of  France 
on  de  Luynes,  with  the  greatest  pomp.  The  sword 
of  the  new  Constable  presented  by  his  Majesty  was 
valued  at  30,000  crowns.  The  court  was  after- 
wards sumptuously  entertained  by  the  Constable 
at  his  Hotel,  the  former  abode  of  the  Marquis 
d'Ancre,  which  was  at  this  time  known  by  the 
familiar  sobriquet  of  Hotel  des  Trois  Rois,  as  at  the 
commencement  of  de  Luynes'  career  his  brothers 
lived  with  him.  For  each  of  these  personages, 
Louis,  with  the  most  amazing  recklessness,  had 
created  a  duche  pairie.  Cadenet  espoused  the 
heiress  of  Pequigny,  and  was  made  Duke  de 
Chaulnes  ;  Brantes  made  a  still  more  illustrious 
alliance,  and  married  the  heiress  of  Luxembourg, 
Charlotte  Marguerite,  only  daughter  of  the  Duke  de 
Piney  Luxembourg,  whose  title  he  eventually  bore. 
The  new  Constable  meantime  followed  his  royal 
master  to  the  siege  of  Montauban,  one  of  the 
strongholds  of  the  Huguenots,  a  place  defended 
by  the  Marquis  de  la  Force  with  incredible  valour. 
The  siege  lasted  three  months,  and  terminated  by 
the  retreat  of  the  royal  army.  The  displeasure 
and  distaste  of  the  King  for  de  Luynes  increased 
during  the  progress  of  the  siege  operations  ;  his 
arrogant  independence  sometimes  excited  his 
Majesty  to  frenzy.  Bassompierre  was  made  the 
confidant  of  Louis's  dissatisfaction,  very  much  to 
the  dismay  of  that  astute  personage.  *'  I  will 
compel  him,  the  base-born  ingrate,  to  restore  all 
that  he  has  rifled  ;  he  desires  to  make  himself 


54  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1617- 

King,  but  I  shall  counteract  his  plots  !  The  poor 
adventurer  !  "  sneered  the  petulant  boy-King, 
14  why,  his  relations  once  arrived  by  boat-loads, 
and  not  one  of  them  had  a  silk  robe  to  appear  in 
my  presence  !  "  The  disgust  indulged  by  Louis 
at  length  attained  such  fervour,  that  he  one  day 
told  the  Constable  in  public  that  the  Duke  de 
Chevreuse  was  madly  enamoured  of  Madame  de 
Luynes  ;  and  therefore  that  he  warned  him  to  be 
on  the  watch.  "  But,  sire,"  remonstrated  the 
good-natured  Bassompierre,  "  I  have  heard  that 
it  ranks  as  heinous  sin  to  sow  dissension  between 
husband  and  wife."  "  May  God  please  to  grant 
me  pardon,''  responded  his  Majesty,  "  but  I  have 
now  such  joy  in  spiting  M.  le  Connetable  and  in 
giving  him  annoyance  1  "  Such  being  the  senti- 
ments of  the  King,  expressed  in  semi-confidence 
to  the  most  privileged  amongst  his  courtiers,  pre- 
dictions abounded  on  the  approaching  overthrow 
of  the  Constable.  The  royal  aversion  was  not 
lessened  by  the  comments  of  Queen  Marie  ;  who 
now,  having  made  peace  with  her  son,  had  taken 
up  her  abode  at  the  Luxembourg.  On  the  raising 
of  the  siege  of  Montauban,  fever  raged  in  the 
camp  ;  Luynes  retired  to  Longuetille,  and  there 
encamped,  feeling  indisposed.  In  the  course  of  a 
few  hours  the  dreaded  pestilence  seized  him  ;  his 
comfortless  quarters  and  his  perturbation  of  mind 
increased  the  severity  of  the  attack,  and  death 
soon  delivered  the  King  from  the  man  he  now  so 
utterly  loathed.  De  Luynes  died  on  the  21st  of 
December,  1621,  after  an  illness  of  a  few  hours' 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  55 

duration.  His  favour  lasted  five  years.  Few 
crimes  mar  his  career  :  Luynes  was  weak  and 
ostentatious  ;  his  greatest  merit,  perhaps,  was 
that  he  had  discerned  the  extraordinary  genius  of 
the  Bishop  of  Lu9on,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death 
was  negotiating  with  Richelieu  to  quit  the  service 
of  Marie  de'  Medici  for  his  own,  offering,  as  a  bribe, 
a  seat  in  the  privy  council.  Luynes  left  a  son  and 
one  daughter 15  by  his  consort.  The  King  suffered 
the  young  Duke  to  inherit  his  father's  enormous 
wealth,  under  the  guardianship  of  his  mother. 
During  the  following  year,  1622,  Madame  de 
Luynes  married  Claude  de  Lorraine,  Duke  de 
Chevreuse,  son  of  Henri,  Duke  de  Guise,  killed  at 
the  States  of  Blois.  The  alliance  was  an  illustrious 
one.  M.  de  Chevreuse,  however,  was  weak  and 
incapable,  and  totally  unable  to  guide  or  rule  his 
witty  and  able  wife.  He  was  luxurious  and  in- 
dolent, and  while  enjoying  the  ease  of  the  Hotel 
Chevreuse,  cared  little  for  the  intrigues  of  his  con- 
sort or  for  the  success  of  her  political  enterprises. 
Before  her  second  marriage,  the  Duchess  de 
Luynes  incurred  a  temporary  disgrace.  The 
Queen,  to  the  great  joy  of  the  nation,  had  been 
declared  enceinte.  Prayers  were  offered  throughout 
the  realms  of  France  and  Spain  for  a  safe  and  pros- 
perous term,  and  Anne  was  committed  to  the 
care  of  the  Queen- mother,  and  ordered  by  her 
royal  husband  not  to  act  in  defiance  of  such 
authority.  It  happened  that  the  Princess  de 
Conde 16  suffered  from  temporary  indisposition, 
and  was  compelled  to  keep  her  bed  in  her  apart- 


56  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1617- 

ments  at  the  Louvre.  Anne  and  a  gay  party  of 
courtiers,  including  her  widowed  surintendente  and 
Mademoiselle  de  Verneuil,  went  to  visit  the  invalid. 
The  evening  was  spent  merrily,  being  enlivened  by 
the  wit  and  the  amusing  adventures  of  the  Mar- 
shal de  Bassompierre  and  the  Duke  de  Bellegarde. 
At  ten  o'clock  the  Queen  took  leave  of  Madame  de 
Conde.  To  arrive  at  her  apartment,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  traverse  the  great  gallery  of  the  Louvre,  at 
the  end  of  which  a  magnificent  canopy  and  throne 
stood,  which  on  this  evening  was  partly  draped 
for  a  state  reception  on  the  morrow.  On  entering 
this  apartment  Madame  de  Luynes  and  Made- 
moiselle de  Verneuil  took  the  Queen  each  by  an 
arm,  and  proposed,  in  the  exuberance  of  their 
mirth,  that  her  Majesty  should  run  with  them  a 
race  down  its  length.  Anne  suffered  herself  to  be 
persuaded  by  their  importunity  ;  unfortunately, 
her  ladies  suddenly  releasing  their  hold  as  they 
approached  the  throne,  the  Queen  fell  on  her  face 
over  a  footstool.  A  few  hours  subsequently,  a 
catastrophe  occurred  which  dismayed  the  cour- 
tiers, and  moved  the  king  to  one  of  those  bursts  of 
passion  to  which  he  was  subject.  With  his  own 
hand  Louis  wrote  to  the  Duchess  de  Luynes,  and 
to  Mademoiselle  de  Verneuil,  exiling  them  from 
the  Louvre,  and  forbidding  them  to  see  the  Queen 
to  say  farewell.  The  letters  were  delivered  to  the 
delinquents  by  the  Queen-mother,  who  admini- 
stered to  each  an  angry  reprimand,  and  dismissed 
the  ladies,  weeping  bitterly.17  The  Duchess  de 
Montmorency18  was  thereupon  promoted  to  the 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  57 

office  of  surintendente,  which  she  retained  for  many 
years,  conciliating  every  one  by  her  gentle  and 
winning  deportment. 

The  return  of  the  Queen-mother  to  Paris  had 
been  attended  with  many  annoyances  to  the 
Queen,  her  daughter-in-law.  After  the  death  of 
the  Constable  de  Luynes,  Marie  again  beheld  her- 
self supreme  over  the  court,  ruling  almost  as  im- 
periously as  before  the  overthrow  of  the  Marquis 
d'Ancre  and  her  subsequent  exile.  Distrustful  of 
his  own  powers  and  judgment,  Louis  again  sought 
refuge  in  his  mother's  more  enterprising  and  reso- 
lute character,  while  Marie  relied  on  the  hidden 
support  and  sage  counsels  of  her  chancellor, 
Richelieu,  Bishop  of  Lu£on.  The  power  and  dis- 
affection of  the  great  nobles  still  menaced  the 
royal  authority.  Conde  had  been  released  from 
the  Bastille  by  de  Luynes,  to  counterbalance,  as 
he  hoped,  the  renewed  influence  of  the  Queen- 
mother,  after  her  reconciliation  with  her  son  at 
Tours.  The  prince  was  esteemed  to  be  one  of  the 
wisest  and  most  prudent  of  men  ;  his  military 
talents  were  not  great,  but  his  name,  his  alliances, 
and  his  relationship  with  many  of  the  great  Hu- 
guenot nobles,  added  to  the  guileful  cunning  of  his 
character,  had  gained  him  reputation.  For  the 
first  six  months  after  the  death  of  de  Luynes,. 
Conde  filled  the  vacant  place  of  royal  mentor, 
and  during  this  interval  Marie  lived  in  intimate 
union  with  Queen  Anne,  their  majesties  usually 
appearing  in  public  together,  and  amiably  patro- 
nising the  Princess  de  Conde.  The  young  Duke 


58  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1617- 

of  Orleans  at  this  period  became  a  daily  visitor  at 
the  lever  of  the  Queen  his  sister-in-law.  Gaston 
was  a  beautiful,  forward  boy  of  fourteen,  idolised 
by  his  mother  for  his  sprightly  wit  and  for  his 
apparent  devotion  to  herself.  The  brothers,  in 
character,  were  entirely  opposite.  Louis  XIII. 
resembled  his  father,  Henri  IV.,  in  his  contempt  of 
soft  luxury,  and  in  his  readiness  to  submit  to 
temporary  privation.  Monsieur,  on  the  contrary, 
was  fastidious,  luxury-loving,  and  pleasure-seek- 
ing. His  raiment  was  perfumed,  and  made  of  the 
most  costly  fabrics,  rings  glittered  on  his  white 
fingers,  and  his  fair  long  hair  was  adjusted  to 
perfection.  The  dancing  of  the  young  prince  was 
pronounced  to  be  exquisite,  his  voice  was  melo- 
dious, he  excelled  in  the  composition  of  charades 
andjeux  d'esprit,  and  he  aimed  at  a  lisping  pre- 
cision of  speech,  which  ere  long  became  a  fashion 
at  court.  Beneath  this  effeminate  exterior,  never- 
theless, the  heroic  spirit  of  his  ancestors  of  Albret 
slumbered.  Monsieur  showed  an  early  predilec- 
tion for  arms,  his  fencing  was  admirable,  he  was 
an  expert  archer,  and  rode  on  horseback  with  an 
ease  and  grace  which  always  excited  the  envy  of 
the  King.19  Monsieur's  inclination  for  magnifi- 
cence and  costly  ornamentation  pervaded  all  his 
pursuits.  While  his  brother  contented  himself 
with  snaring  magpies  and  small  birds,  Gaston,  at 
this  period,  having  just  attained  his  majority  and 
therefore  becoming  master  of  his  patrimony,  set 
up  a  hunting  establishment  on  a  grand  scale  at  his 
chateau  of  Montargis,  where  he  built  kennels  and 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  59 

stables,  which  a  few  years  subsequently  were 
razed  to  the  ground,  when  the  Duke  capriciously 
transferred  his  stud  to  Villers  Coterets,  a  hunting- 
lodge  in  the  forest  of  Soissons.  The  Duke  at  this 
period  divided  his  leisure,  when  in  Paris,  between 
the  Louvre  and  the  Luxembourg  ;  spending  hours 
at  the  latter  place  with  his  royal  mother  in  the 
studio  of  the  maestro,  Rubens,  whom  Marie  de' 
Medici  had  lured  from  Antwerp  to  embellish  her 
palace  by  his  immortal  pencil.  When  at  the 
Louvre,  Gaston  entertained  his  fair  sister-in-law 
and  her  ladies,  and  once  more  made  the  saloons 
echo,  as  in  olden  times,  with  merry  laughter  and 
witty  repartee.  Soon  the  greatest  solace  of  the 
fair  young  Queen  was  the  society  of  so  fascinating 
a  cavalier  as  her  brother-in-law,  who,  moreover, 
with  lazy  good  nature,  adjusted  many  a  little  dis- 
pute arising  between  Anne  and  the  Queen-mother 
which  might  have  acquired  unsought-for  impor- 
tance if  submitted  to  the  arbitration  of  Louis 
Treize.  Prominent  amongst  the  grievances  be- 
tween Anne  and  her  imperious  mother-in-law,  was 
the  fact  that  Marie  proposed  that  the  state  re- 
ceptions of  the  Louvre  should  be  transferred  to 
her  saloons  ;  and,  through  Richelieu,  she  even 
succeeded  in  convincing  her  royal  son  that  such 
arrangement  would  obviate  many  evils  to  be  anti- 
cipated from  the  youth  and  inexperience  of  his 
consort.  Anne  replied,  that  such  tutelage  was  un- 
becoming her  proud  position  as  reigning  Queen  of 
France  and  Infanta  of  the  Spains.  Her  Majesty, 
therefore,  firmly  declined  to  be  present  at  the 


60  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1617- 

Luxembourg  whenever  the  court  paid  its  homage 
to  the  "  august  Marie  de'  Medici."  This  resolution 
was  supported  by  the  counsel  of  the  Duchess  de 
Chevreuse,20  who,  after  her  marriage,  had  again 
appeared  at  court  as  chief  lady  of  honour  in  wait- 
ing, and  wiser  perchance  for  her  brief  eclipse. 
Marie  also  complained  that  Anne,  when  address- 
ing her  by  letter,  terminated  with  the  words 
"  votre  affectionee  fille,"  instead  of  by  the  formula, 
in  imitation  of  that  adopted  by  the  King,  of  "  votre 
tres  humble  et  obeissante  fille."  The  Queen  bore 
with  meekness  the  coldness  of  the  Queen-mother 
and  the  anger  of  the  King,  who  was  again  en- 
slaved by  his  mother,  for  at  this  period  Riche- 
lieu still  acted  in  subordination  to  the  directions 
of  Marie  de'  Medici.  Marie  and  her  chancellor 
continually  depreciated  the  intellect  and  savoir 
vivre  of  Queen  Anne,  so  apprehensive  were  they 
of  a  rival  in  Louis'  confidence.  "  Nevertheless," 
says  an  enthusiastic  contemporary,  "  Anne  is  truly 
pious  ;  her  heart  is  noble,  her  constancy  great, 
her  self-control  eminent ;  she  unhappily  remem- 
bers injuries,  but  she  is  easily  persuaded  by  com- 
mendation and  by  affectionate  appeal."  The  in- 
tercourse between  Anne  and  Monsieur  was  not 
over-pleasing  to  Louis  XIII.  :  that  sombre  nature 
ever  construed  friendship  for  another  into  de- 
preciation of  himself.  Anne,  unhappily  for  her 
future  peace,  had  adopted  the  maxims  of  the 
famous  Marquise  de  Sable — at  this  period  in  the 
meridian  of  her  celebrity,  but  who,  nevertheless, 
was  one  of  the  most  selfish  and  heartless  of  the 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  61 

"  brilliant  women,"  the  glory  of  the  Parisian 
saloons  of  the  17th  and  18th  centuries.  "  I  am 
persuaded,"  said  Madame  de  Sable,  "  that  men 
without  criminality  may  feel  and  demonstrate  the 
tenderest  sentiments  for  the  lady  of  their  heart 
and  fancy.  I  maintain  that  the  desire  of  pleasing 
women  inspires  the  grandest  and  noblest  actions, 
and  that  it  imparts  wit,  liberality  and  countless 
virtues.  Women,  being  the  gems  and  ornaments 
of  the  world,  are  created  to  become  the  recipients 
of  such  homage  ;  they  may  therefore  accept,  and 
ought  to  encourage,  adoration  and  service,  which, 
however,  they  need  repay  only  by  innocent  con- 
descensions." Such  a  code  was  repugnant  to  the 
jealous  temper  of  the  King  ;  isolated,  and  living 
at  the  Louvre,  as  her  sister-in-law  the  Queen 
of  Spain,  lived  in  the  seclusion  of  El  Escorial, 
Anne  might  have  ruled  Louis  XIII.  and  France, 
but  the  frolics  of  the  court,  and  the  etourderies 
of  the  Queen  offended  the  King's  susceptibilities, 
which  became  further  aggrieved  by  the  ironical 
expostulations  with  which  Anne  met  his  remon- 
strances. "  The  admiration  shown  for  me  by  MM. 
les  Dues  de  Montmorency  and  de  Bellegarde,  is 
only  a  just  tribute  to  the  attractions  of  their 
Queen  !  "  !1  exclaimed  Anne,  proudly.  Louis  also 
tartly  reprimanded  his  consort  for  permitting  the 
assiduities  of  Monsieur,  inasmuch  as  her  coquet- 
ting and  ridicule,  he  said,  rendered  the  Duke  more 
averse  than  ever  to  offer  suitable  devoirs  to  his 
betrothed  wife,  Marie  de  Bourbon  Montpensier, 
an  alliance  approved  and  desired  by  the  Queen- 


62  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1617- 

mother  and  by  himself.  Mademoiselle  de  Mont- 
pensier  being  the  richest  heiress  in  France,  it  had 
been  deemed  imperative  by  Henri  IV.  that  the 
succession  to  so  many  duchies  should  neither 
lapse  to  a  subject,  nor  be  possessed  by  a  foreign 
prince.  Henriette,  Duchess  de  Joyeuse  in  her 
own  right,  and  dowager  of  Montpensier,  had  taken 
for  her  second  husband  the  Duke  de  Guise  ;  her 
daughter,  therefore,  was  receiving  her  education 
with  her  half-brothers  and  sisters  of  Lorraine.  The 
little  heiress  was  plain,  pale  and  insipid,  triste 
in  humour,  small,  slightly  deformed  in  person, 
totally  unable  to  comprehend,  and  even  feeling 
frightened  at  the  brilliant  sallies  of  her  affianced 
lord.  The  Queen  disparaged  her  future  sister-in- 
law,  and  did  all  she  could  to  render  Monsieur  in- 
different ;  "  because  "  argued  her  Majesty,  "  if 
the  future  Madame  brings  her  husband  children,  I 
shall  fall  in  public  esteem  and  suffer  deeper 
political  insignificance."  Nevertheless,  on  the 
hint  of  her  royal  consort,  whose  wrath  subdued 
even  Anne's  assurance,  her  Majesty  attempted  to 
persuade  the  young  Duke  to  seek  the  society  of 
his  affianced. 

The  Queen-mother  and  her  policy,  meantime, 
continued  to  be  in  the  ascendant.  The  death  of 
the  Cardinal  de  Retz  and  of  the  Keeper  of  the 
seals  Du  Vic,  creatures  of  the  late  Constable  de 
Luynes,  enabled  Marie  to  extend  her  patronage. 
The  sword  of  Constable  was  given  to  Lesdiguieres 
on  his  abjuration  of  the  Calvinist  faith,  and  the 
Marquis  de  Vieuville,  an  old  adherent  of  the 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  63 

Queen's,  received  the  seals.      The  Chancellor  de 
Sillery  was  banished  from  the  court ;   and,  at  the 
urgent  demand  of  the  Queen- mot  her,  Richelieu 
was  admitted  a  member  of  the  privy  council.  Marie 
had  demanded  a  Cardinal's  hat  for  her  protege 
after  the  signature  of  the  peace  of  Angers.     De 
Luynes    promised    the    interest    of    the    French 
government  with  the  Holy  See,  but  as  the  King 
manifested  displeasure  at  the  elevation  of  Riche- 
lieu, whom  he  was  wont  to  designate  "  an  officious 
meddler,"  a  private  letter  was  addressed  to  his 
Holiness  to  neutralise  the  effect  of  the  public  de- 
mand.    Richelieu  discovered  the  intrigue  through 
the  celebrated  Capuchin,  Father  Joseph  de  Trem- 
blay,22  and  meekly  informed  his  patroness.     Upon 
this  Marie  promptly  proposed  a  marriage  between 
M.  Combalet,  nephew  of  de  Luynes,  with  Mademoi- 
selle de  Pont  de  Courlay,23  the  niece  of  Richelieu, 
and  thus  won  the  true  support  of  de  Luynes.     All 
persons,  therefore,  being  as  the  Queen  hoped,  pro- 
pitiated, a  second  application  had  been  made  to 
his  Holiness.     During  the  interval  the  Constable 
de  Luynes  died.     Louis,   therefore,   advised   by 
Conde  of  this  fresh  application,  again  dispatched 
a  message  through  Corsini,  the  Papal  Nuncio,  to 
the  effect  "  that  he  should  not  feel  aggrieved  if  his 
Holiness  deemed  it  advisable,  and  found  excuses, 
to  refuse  this  request."     Again  the  royal  duplicity 
was  discovered  by  Richelieu  and  confided  to  the 
Queen-mother.     Marie  entered  her  son's  cabinet 
in  a  passion  of  resentment ;   she  drew  the  most 
disastrous  picture  of  the  condition  of  France,  and 


64  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1617- 

her  eulogy  of  "  the  humble  prelate  whose  wisdom 
and  learning  were  to  avert  ruin  from  the  realm  " 
bewildered  the  King.    Louis  confessed  his  want  of 
appreciation  of  Richelieu's  merit,  but  consented 
to  dispatch  an    express  to  Rome  to  contradict 
''  the  error  of  the  Nuncio,"  who  had  misunder- 
stood the  royal  observation,  and  to  ask  for  the 
prompt  elevation  of  M.  de  Lugon.     The  much- 
coveted  hat  was  bestowed  upon  Richelieu  by  Pope 
Gregory     XV.,     September  1622.       The     astute 
Richelieu  had  no  sooner  received  the  insignia  of 
his  cardinalate  from  the  hand  of  his  sovereign,  at 
Lyons,  than  he  prostrated  himself  at  the  feet  of 
Marie    de'    Medici  :     "  Gracious    Majesty  !    this 
purple,  which  I  owe  to  your  Majesty,  will  be  ever 
before  my  eyes  as  a  symbol  of  the  solemn  vow 
which  I  have  made,  and  now  renew,  to  shed  every 
drop  of  my  blood,  if  necessary,  in  your  service  !  " 
The  joy  of  Marie  was  intense  :   the  mother  of  the 
King — mother  and  trusted  ally  of  Monsieur  heir- 
presumptive — the  mistress  of  Richelieu  and  able 
to  command  at  will  that  glorious  intellect  and  un- 
rivalled daring — Marie  might  well   consider  her 
newly-recovered    power  steadfast    and    immov- 
able! 

The  rule  of  the  Cardinal  de  Richelieu  com- 
menced. His  first  process  of  government  was  to 
exhibit  to  the  timid  and  suspicious  Louis  the 
volcano  beneath  his  throne,  and  to  direct  his 
startled  gaze  on  the  swarm  of  malcontents  which 
stung  and  ravaged  his  fair  heritage  and  prero- 
gatives. Richelieu  displayed  terrible  pictures  : 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  65 

the  revolt  and  arrogance  of  the  great  peers,  whose 
ambition  shook  the  throne  ;  the  treason  of  the 
Huguenots  of  the  realm — their  tenure  of  fortified 
places  by  treaty,  their  alliances  with  foreign 
powers  and  their  insolent  demand  for  separate 
political  and  synodical  action.  He  then  changed 
the  scene  to  the  domestic  disquietudes  of  the 
court — the  towering  ambition  of  Marie  de'  Medici, 
the  Cardinal  observed,  no  faithful  minister  of 
Louis  XIII.  might  ignore  ;  the  levity  and  Spanish 
inclinations  of  the  reigning  Queen  ;  the  ambition 
and  frivolity  of  the  heir-presumptive,  whose 
vanity  might  betray  him  into  the  toils  of  unprin- 
cipled men  !  Every  one  of  these  bristling  thorns 
pierced  the  heart  of  the  King.  The  Cardinal's 
system  with  Marie  de'  Medici  was,  to  bemoan  the 
suspicions  and  illiberality  of  the  King  his  royal 
master,  his  headstrong  will  and  lack  of  filial  de- 
ference, the  cunning  of  Conde,  the  insecurity  of 
her  Majesty's  position,  and  the  high  promise  of 
Monsieur.  For  a  season  this  course  of  tactics 
succeeded  with  Marie  de'  Medici ;  but  the  Queen 
required  the  Cardinal's  deeds  to  accord  with  his 
words,  and  his  actions  to  follow,  or  at  any  rate  to 
assimilate  with  his  predictions — a  consequence 
overlooked,  in  his  astuteness,  by  Richelieu.  The 
court  was  divided  by  the  new  law-giver  into  two 
camps — his  friends  and  his  enemies.  For  the 
former  no  caresses  and  privileges  were  deemed  too 
high  a  boon  ;  for  the  latter,  mendacity  could  not 
sufficiently  blacken  their  motives  and  character, 
or  persecution  and  ruin  too  thoroughly  overthrow 


66  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1617- 

their  prospects.  The  meek  humility  of  Richelieu's 
manner  towards  his  household  dependants  ;  the 
deferential  homage  which,  at  the  commencing  of 
his  power,  he  paid  to  the  high  personages  of  the 
court ;  and  the  triple  velvet  with  which  he  en- 
cased the  potent  hand  so  terrible  in  its  blows, 
enabled  the  first  years  of  his  ministry — his  initia- 
tion in  office — to  glide  away  with  but  little  notice, 
and  no  opposition. 

The  method  which  Richelieu  is  recorded  to  have 
taken  in  order  to  propitiate  and  to  gain  the  favour 
of  Anne  of  Austria  is  so  extraordinary,  and 
opposed  to  his  intercourse  with  his  royal  patron 
during  the  following  decade  of  years,  that  it  is 
difficult  to  believe  a  fact,  which  is  related  and 
affirmed  by  trustworthy  historians  and  chroni- 
clers of  the  period.  It  is  asserted  that  Richelieu 
attempted  to  strengthen  his  position  by  com- 
mencing an  intrigue  with  the  wife  of  his  sovereign. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  isolated  position  of  the 
young  and  fascinating  Queen,  estranged  from  her 
royal  husband  partly  through  his  strange  caprices 
and  exactions,  and  badly  counselled  by  her  friend 
and  confidente  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  offered  a 
tempting  lure  to  the  vicious  and  unscrupulous. 
Richelieu  hated  Monsieur  the  heir-presumptive 
with  bitter  hatred — at  first,  for  some  rude  words 
of  sarcasm,  the  more  galling  as  falling  from  boyish 
lips,  and  because  he  descried  in  the  disposition  of 
the  Duke  a  fretfulness  which  convinced  him  that 
so  restless  and  volatile  a  spirit  never  would  retain 
its  subjection  to  the  will  of  any  minister.  Riche- 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  67 

lieu's  admiration  was  calmly  accepted,  it  is  said, 
by  Anne,  as  a  homage  rendered  to  her  charms, 
and  as  incense  offered  by  the  first  minister  to  the 
political  personage  which  she  never  ceased  from 
aspiring  to  become.  "  The  Queen,"  says  Anne's 
ardent  friend  and  apologist,  Madame  de  Motte- 
ville,  "  confessed  to  me  that  in  her  youth  she 
never  could  comprehend  that  what  is  called 
rhonnete  galanterie  could  be  blamable,  any  more 
than  the  liberty  enjoyed  by  Spanish  ladies  of  the 
court  of  Madrid,  who,  living  like  nuns  in  the 
palace  and  never  speaking  of  men  but  in  the 
presence  of  the  King  or  Queen  of  Spain,  yet  boast 
of  their  conquests,  and  discourse  upon  them  as 
facts  calculated  rather  to  enhance  their  reputation 
than  to  defame  it."  Anne  related  to  Madame  de 
Motteville,  in  days  when  the  memory  of  the  sore 
trials  of  her  youth  had  almost  faded  from  the 
mind  of  the  mother  of  Louis  XIV.,  that  one  day 
Richelieu  was  craving  her  friendship  and  assis- 
tance with  an  air  too  gallant  and  animated,  and 
with  words  of  passionate  admiration,  and  that 
she,  who  detested  him,  was  preparing  to  answer  in 
contemptuous  anger,  when  the  door  opened  and 
the  King  appeared.  Anne  added,  that  she  never 
after  reverted  to  the  subject,  fearing  to  do  the 
Cardinal  too  much  honour  by  appearing  to  remem- 
ber his  presumption  ;  "  but  I  did  myself  infinite 
injury  with  the  King  my  consort,  for  the  bad 
offices  of  M.  le  Cardinal  increased  our  misunder- 
standings." 24  Richelieu,  it  might  be  imagined, 
would  have  been  the  last  man  to  involve  himself 


68  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1617- 

in  the  meshes  of  a  perilous  intrigue  :  but  it  is 
asserted  that  the  Cardinal,   at  this  period,  was 
consumed  with  a  frantic  admiration  for  his  young 
mistress  ;    and  that  Anne,  whose  heart  remained 
untouched,    amused    herself    by    ridiculing    and 
spurning  this  foible.     But  for  certain  suspicious 
incidents  which  occurred  between  the  pair,  years 
after  this  event,  and  when  the  Cardinal's  passion 
was  supposed  to  be  extinct,  the  episode  would 
seem  too  improbable  to  challenge   belief.     The 
evil  influences  of  Madame  de  Chevreuse  were  fast 
dissipating     the  decorous     reserve     of     Anne's 
manners    and   vitiating    her   mind.      Anne   had 
learned  to  love  her  and  to  trust  her,  as  the  forlorn 
cling  to  the  one  bright  and  genial  object  which 
cheers  their  existence.     Marie  de  Rohan  was  now 
devoted  to  the  Queen.     Anne's  enemies  were  her 
foes,    and   the   beautiful,  strong-minded  woman 
would   have   given   her   life,    as   she   eventually 
sacrificed  fortune,  for  the  sake  of  her  royal  mis- 
tress.    Intrigue,  unhappily,  occupied  the  mind  of 
the    Duchess,   and,  incorrigible    in    her  vanity, 
Marie  succeeded  too  well  in  diverting  the  melan- 
choly of  the  Queen  by  the  recital  of  her  forbidden 
diversions.     When  condoled  with  by  her  intimates 
on  the  indolence  and  pompous  emptiness  of  the 
Duke  her  husband,  Madame  de  Chevreuse  replied 
promptly,  "  Je  rtfen  endommage  I '      Subsequent 
to  this  period  Madame  de  Chevreuse  engaged  in  a 
correspondence    with    the    handsome     Earl     of 
Holland,  then  Lord  Rich,  who  had  visited  France 
in  1622  to  negotiate  for  the  Rochellois,  and  who 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  69 

returned  in  1624  as  one  of  the  ambassadors  sent 
to  confer  on  the  marriage  of  Henriette  Marie  de 
France  with  Charles,  Prince  of  Wales.  In  their 
correspondence  these  persons  naturally  wrote 
much  concerning  the  leading  personages  of  their 
respective  courts ;  and  Anne  of  Austria  and 
George  Villiers,  Duke  of  Buckingham,  the  favour- 
ite of  James  I.  of  England,  often  afforded  a 
theme  for  the  writers.  The  magnificence  of 
Villiers,  his  beauty  of  person  and  chivalrous 
character,  is  believed,  even  at  this  period,  to  have 
made  a  deep  impression  on  the  fancy  of  the 
Queen.  Buckingham,  also,  she  was  told,  was 
joined  to  a  partner  uncongenial  and  incapable  of 
appreciating  his  rare  powers.  Anne  believed  this 
hero-worship  to  be  blameless — the  great  ocean 
separated  her  from  Buckingham — besides,  it 
invested  the  correspondence  of  Madame  de  Chev- 
reuse  with  a  personal  interest.  The  Queen,  there- 
fore, imagined  that  she  might  fearlessly  accept 
the  messages  of  her  admirer,  and  reciprocate  la 
belle  galanterie,  without  dread  of  the  spies  and 
the  reprimands  of  the  Louvre. 

While  Anne  was  thus  indulging  in  soft  blandish- 
ments, she,  with  her  imprudent  confidente,  ven- 
tured upon  all  kinds  of  malicious  minauderies  to- 
wards the  Cardinal.  They  dared  to  jest  with  and 
ridicule  his  professions,  and  to  devise  des  puits 
<V  amour,  into  which  they  devoutly  hoped  he  might 
fall.  One  day  the  flippant  Duchess  told  his  Emi- 
nence that  her  Majesty  would  be  charmed,  she 
thought,  to  see  a  churchman  arrayed  in  cloth  of 


70  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1617- 

silver — gris  de  lin  !  Still  further,  these  thought- 
less women  are  said  to  have  indulged  their  mirth. 
The  Count  de  Brienne  is  the  relater  of  the  anec- 
dote, which  he  thus  retails  : 25  "  The  Queen  and 
her  confidents  were  at  this  time  mad  with  fun  and 
frolic.  One  day,  when  they  were  conversing  to- 
gether, and  could  talk  and  laugh  at  nothing  save 
at  the  expense  of  the  amorous  Cardinal,  Madame 
de  Chevreuse  said,  '  He  is,  I  assure  you,  passion- 
ately smitten,  and  I  know  of  nothing  which  he 
would  not  do  to  please  your  Majesty.  Shall  I 
send  him  here  some  evening,  dressed  en  baladin, 
to  dance  a  saraband  ?  Shall  I  ?  Would  your 
Majesty  like  it  ?  '  '  What  folly  !  '  replied  the 
Queen  ;  nevertheless,  Anne  was  young,  she  was  a 
woman,  she  was  full  of  spirit  and  fun  and  the  idea 
diverted  her.  The  great  minister,  although  he  had 
in  hand  all  the  politics  of  Europe,  could  not  defend 
his  heart  from  the  assaults  of  love.  He  accepted 
the  singular  rendezvous  proposed  by  the  Duchess— 
for  already  he  believed  himself  secure  of  conquest. 
Boccan,  who  played  admirably  on  the  violin,  was 
summoned.  Secrecy  was  impressed  upon  him, 
but  when  are  such  secrets  kept  ?  Richelieu  ap- 
peared clad  in  pantaloons  of  green  velvet,  at  his 
garters  hung  silver  bells,  on  his  hands  were  cas- 
tanets, and  he  danced  the  saraband,  which  Boccan 
played.  The  Queen  and  her  favourite,  attended 
by  Vautier  and  by  Beringhen,  remained  concealed 
behind  a  screen  through  which  the  gestures  and 
movements  of  the  dancer  were  seen  !  " 

The  Cardinal  speedily  detected  the  escapades 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  71 

of  which  he  had  become  the  victim,  and  resented 
the  insult ;  at  any  rate,  his  project  of  capti- 
vating the  mind  of  the  giddy  young  Queen  had 
failed.  "  She  rejected,"  he  complained,  "  his 
friendship,  his  paternal  care  ;  and  in  the  haughti- 
ness of  her  Austrian  blood  despised  his  counsels." 
If  Richelieu  failed,  as  recorded  by  de  Brienne  and 
other  chroniclers,  to  obtain  power  over  the  mind 
of  Anne  of  Austria,  it  is  certain  that  the  minister 
discerned  a  waywardness  in  her  character,  which 
convinced  him  of  the  necessity  of  compassing 
her  subjugation  by  rougher  and  more  arbitrary 
measures.  Fate  did  not  long  withhold  from 
the  unscrupulous  minister  the  power  which  he 
coveted. 

The  treaty  with  England,  by  which  a  daughter 
of  Henri  IV.  was  given  to  Charles  I.,  was  finally 
signed  in  Paris,  March  13,  1625,  after  the  death  of 
James  I.,  who  had  previously  subscribed  the 
marriage  contract  of  his  heir  with  Henriette 
Marie.  The  Earls  of  Carlisle  and  Holland  were 
the  ambassadors  sent  by  Charles  to  sign,  on  his 
behalf,  the  articles  and  the  private  arrangements 
agreed  to  between  the  courts  and  to  be  present 
at  the  marriage  ceremony,  which  took  place,  May 
llth,  1625,  on  a  platform  of  state  raised  before 
the  portal  of  Notre  Dame.  Madame  de  Chev- 
reuse  had  been  the  great  promoter  of  the  alliance, 
being  won  over  to  English  interests  by  Lord 
Holland,  "  who  had,"  says  Bishop  Racket,  "  an 
amorous  temper  and  a  wise  head,  and  could 
court  it  as  smoothly  as  any  man  with  the  French 


72  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1617- 

ladies."  Marie  de'  Medici  also  sanctioned  her 
daughter's  marriage  with  a  heretic  prince,  and 
entered  into  the  views  of  Richelieu,  who  desired, 
with  politic  foresight,  to  wrest  from  the  Hugue- 
nots of  the  realm  their  great  ally,  by  uniting  the 
crowns  in  matrimonial  alliance.  The  young 
Queen  at  first  declared  herself  inimical  to  the  alli- 
ance, on  account  of  her  sister  the  Infanta  Mar- 
guerite, whom  she  held  to  have  been  betrayed 
and  deserted  by  King  Charles.  Persuaded  by 
Madame  de  Chevreuse,  Anne,  swayed  by  a  multi- 
tude of  motives,  at  length  cordially  congratulated 
her  sister-in-law,  whose  society,  nevertheless,  she 
seems  to  have  seldom  sought,  and  declared  her- 
self "  so  truly  French  as  to  prefer  the  alliance  of 
Charles  with  Henriette  rather  than  that  with  her 
own  sister  Madame  PInfante,26  for  whom  she  had 
other  views  !  "  King  James,  before  his  decease, 
had  issued  a  command  to  the  Duke  of  Bucking- 
ham "  to  get  the  English  fleet  in  order,  to  bring 
over  our  dearly  beloved  daughter,  the  Princess 
Henrietta  "  :  a  mandate  confirmed  by  the  new 
sovereign,  who  was  even  more  infatuated  than 
his  father  with  the  superb  favourite.  Great  was 
the  sensation  at  the  French  court  when  it  was 
announced  that  the  Duke,  the  dispenser  of  the 
revenues  of  three  potent  realms,  was  about  to 
shine  in  Paris.  Many  a  heart  throbbed  in  expec- 
tation of  the  visit,  and  amongst  those  whose 
anticipations  were  perhaps  the  keenest,  was  the 
fair  Queen  of  France  and  her  companion  Madame 
de  Chevreuse. 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  73 

At  this  period  Anne  possessed  as  little  influence 
in  the  state  as  her  friend — perhaps,  indeed,  a  less 
degree  of  power — because  Madame  de  Chevreuse 
lavished  wit,  beauty  and  wealth  to  win  adher- 
ents, and  was  fettered  by  no  scruples. 

The  King  seldom  saw  his  consort  in  private.  He 
was  often  absent  from  Paris  on  short  military 
campaigns,  and  when  resident  at  the  Louvre 
Anne  was  too  petulant  and  resentful  to  submit  to 
his  brusquerie,  or  too  impatient  to  devote  herself 
to  the  task  of  soothing  his  melancholy,  or  of  shar- 
ing the  dreary  conversation  and  still  more  dreary 
musical  entertainment  of  two  guitars  and  a  violin, 
which  often  whiled  away  the  evenings  in  his 
Majesty's  apartments.  Louis  had  nothing  to  say 
to  a  young  and  beautiful  woman  ;  he  loved  to  sit 
in  silent  abstraction  and  disliked  the  presence 
of  ladies.  His  praises  of  Richelieu  incensed  the 
Queen,  as  did  also  his  habitual  abuse  of  Spain 
and  the  dynasty  of  Hapsburg,  whose  overthrow, 
he  was  wont  to  declare,  it  was  the  high  mission  of 
France  to  accomplish.  This  indifference  between 
the  royal  couple  enabled  Richelieu  to  insert  the 
wedge  of  a  still  more  entire  disunion  ;  the  minister 
and  the  Queen-mother  inspired  the  mind  of  Louis 
with  distrust  of  his  wife,  and  Anne  did  nothing 
to  kindle  love  or  to  command  respect. 

The  Duke  de  Chevreuse  had  been  appointed  as 
the  proxy  of  King  Charles  to  wed  Henrietta  ;  he 
was  also,  with  the  Duchess  his  wife,  chosen  to  con- 
duct Queen  Henrietta  to  Dover,  to  meet  her  newly 
espoused  lord.  The  Duke's  wealth  and  splendid 


74  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1617- 

jewels  was  the  public  reason  assigned  for  the  dis- 
tinction conferred  upon  him ;  for  Madame  de 
Chevreuse  possessed,  by  the  bequest  of  her  first 
husband,  the  diamonds  of  the  unfortunate  Mar- 
quise d'Ancre.  One  evening  Lord  Holland  visited 
the  Duke  de  Chevreuse  unexpectedly  and  found 
him,  with  his  consort,  dressed  for  a  masque  at  the 
Louvre  ;  "  but  never  did  I  before  behold  such 
jewels,  and  never  again  expect  to  see  such  pro- 
fusion adorning  the  persons  of  subjects !  "  27  The 
duchess  coveted  the  ambassage  to  the  court  of 
England,  not  so  much  to  display  her  diamonds,  as 
the  lustre  of  her  eyes  before  the  admiring  gaze  of 
Lord  Holland,  a  fact  which  she  scrupled  not  to 
confess.  The  marriage  ceremony  of  the  Princess 
Maria  Henrietta  remained  a  memorable  pageant 
to  Queen  Anne  of  Austria  ;  as  on  this  occasion 
only,  during  the  reign  of  her  consort,  did  she 
publicly  enjoy  the  magnificence  and  appareil  of 
her  position  as  Queen-consort.  At  this  ceremony, 
nevertheless,  she  was  compelled  to  yield  prece- 
dence to  Marie  de'  Medici.28  The  charming  bride, 
Princess  Henrietta,  won,  by  her  grace  and  amia- 
bility, the  praise  of  the  English  ambassadors. 
"My  lord,"  wrote  Lord  Holland  to  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham,  "  I  protest  that  she  is  a  lovely  and 
sweet  young  creature.  Her  growth  is  not  great, 
but  they  all  swear  that  her  sister,  the  Princess  of 
Piedmont  (Madame  Christine),  was  not  taller  than 
she  is  at  her  age." 29  In  most  of  his  despatches 
Holland  mentions  Anne  of  Austria,  so  that  the 
imagination  of  Buckingham,  by  the  time  he 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  75 

arrived  in  France,  fired  by  dwelling  on  the  beauty, 
the  wrongs  and  the  isolation  of  the  Queen,  was 
ready  to  assign  evil  significance  to  every  kindly 
overture  tendered  by  her  Majesty.  Rumours  GJ 
the  superb  retinue  appointed  to  attend  the  Duke 
of  Buckingham  excited  curiosity  and  interest  in 
Paris.  It  was  ironically  said  "  that  King  Louis 
must  vacate  his  Louvre  to  afford  space  for  the 
Duke  and  his  suite  !  ':  On  the  24th  of  May, 
Buckingham  entered  Paris  ;  his  suite  consisted 
of  seven  hundred  persons  !  He  was  accompanied 
by  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton,  by  his  brother-in- 
law  the  Earl  of  Denbigh,  and  by  six  gentlemen, 
sons  of  noble  families.  His  equipages  consisted 
of  three  coaches  lavishly  gilt  and  adorned,  drawn 
each  by  eight  horses.  Buckingham  was  also  at- 
tended by  a  band  of  musicians  ;  and  by  his  staff 
of  Thames  watermen — twenty-two  in  number — 
clad  in  rich  liveries.  For  his  personal  attire 
Buckingham  made  elaborate  preparation,  "  for, 
my  lord,  they  are  here  so  fine,  so  curious,  and  so 
magnificent,  that  your  Excellency  will  be  much 
pleased,"  had  been  the  report  of  Gerbier,  steward 
of  the  Duke's  household,  sent  by  his  master  to 
purchase  paintings  and  goldsmiths'  work  in 
France.  "  For  his  body,  my  lord  had  twenty- 
seven  suits  embroidered  and  laced  with  silk  and 
silver  plushes,  besides  one  satten  uncut  velvet 
suit,  set  all  over,  both  suit  and  cloak,  with  dia- 
monds, the  value  whereof  is  thought  to  be  about 
10,000  pounds.  He  has,  moreover,  a  feather  made 
with  great  diamonds,  a  sword-girdle,  hat-band, 


76  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1617. 

and  spurs,  all  studded  with  diamonds,  and  an- 
other rich  suit  of  purple  satten  embroidered  with 
fine  pearls."  30  The  noble  and  handsome  face  of 
Buckingham  beamed  with  delight,  when,  after 
making  his  obeisance  to  the  King  and  the  Queen- 
mother  in  the  great  hall  of  the  Louvre,  he  inclined 
before  the  fair  young  sovereign,  whose  attractions 
had  so  stimulated  his  vanity  and  presumption. 
The  jealous  and  carping  spirit  of  the  French  cava- 
liers found  no  rallying  point  as  they  beheld  the 
personal  gifts  of  Villiers  and  the  kingly  carriage 
"  of  the  handsomest-bodied  man  of  England." 
The  polish  of  his  address,  which  Clarendon  lauds 
as  "  sweet  and  accostable,"  and  his  generosity  and 
magnificence  were  noted  with  admiration.  Never- 
theless, the  pomp  affected  by  the  Duke  kindled 
the  ire  of  his  entertainers ; 31  and  his  gifts,  which 
were  at  first  accepted  with  gratitude,  offended  by 
their  prodigality. 

The  impression  made  on  the  Duke  by  the  charms 
of  Anne  of  Austria  increased  his  infatuation,  while 
Anne  herself  imprudently  gave  him  every  oppor- 
tunity of  access  to  her  presence.  Madame  de 
Chevreuse  continued  to  be  the  arch-temptress,  and 
persuaded  her  royal  mistress,  at  the  suggestion,  it 
is  said,  of  Lord  Holland,  that  to  flatter  and  en- 
courage the  passion  of  the  Duke  would  tend  to  the 
glory  of  France  ;  inasmuch  as  the  Queen,  reigning 
over  the  heart  of  Buckingham,  would  govern  the 
counsels  of  King  Charles.  Nevertheless,  the  Queen 
admitted  the  reality  of  Buckingham's  attentions 
with  reluctance.  Madame  de  Motteville  asserts 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  77 

that  no  treason  to  her  husband  and  King  entered 
the  imagination  of  Anne  of  Austria.  The  Duke  was 
handsome  and  the  pearl  of  European  chivalry, 
and  by  the  extraordinary  familiarity  in  which  he 
lived  with  King  Charles  was  admitted  by  other 
monarchs  to  intimate  freedoms.  Proud,  therefore, 
of  her  conquest — and  glad,  perhaps,  to  exhibit 
before  her  husband's  eyes  the  homage  which  her 
charms  excited  in  the  bosom  of  the  most  fastidious 
of  cavaliers — Anne  acted  on  the  evil  counsel  of 
Madame  de  Chevreuse,  forgetting  her  queenly 
rank.  "  The  Duke  of  Buckingham,"  relates  Ma- 
dame de  Motteville,32  whose  mother,  at  this  period, 
held  the  office  of  bed-chamber  woman  to  Anne  of 
Austria,  "  had  the  audacity  to  attack  her  Majesty's 
heart.  He  was  tall,  well-made,  handsome,  noble, 
spirited,  magnificent,  liberal  and  the  favourite  of 
a  great  king.  He  had  the  spending  of  all  his 
master's  treasure,  with  the  loan  of  all  the  crown 
jewels  of  England  to  adorn  his  person.  Is  it 
marvellous,  therefore,  that,  possessed  of  so  many 
amiable  qualities,  his  aim  was  high  ?  or  that  he 
indulged  in  noble,  but  dangerous  and  blamable, 
desires  ?  If  the  happiness  was  his  of  persuading 
those  around  that  his  homage  was  not  impor- 
tunate, we  must  presume  that  his  aspirations  were 
received,  as  the  Divinities  of  old  were  said  to 
accept  the  offering  of  mortals — that  is  to  say,  that 
their  devotees  remained  in  ignorance  whether  their 
homage  was  acceptable  or  the  reverse.  The  Queen 
made  no  secret  of  these  events,  but  has  without 
reserve  confessed  to  me  that  in  her  youth  (though 


78  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [iei7- 

the  illusion  is  now  dissipated)  she  did  not  compre- 
hend that  what  is  termed  Vhonnete  galanterie  could 
be  wrong,  when  no  pledges  were  given  or  accepted." 
The  experiment  was  a  dangerous  one,  as  Anne  was 
not  long  in  discovering  ;  for  the  penetrating  eye 
of  Richelieu  comprehended  the  insolence  of  the 
aspirations  cherished  by  Buckingham.  He  beheld 
with  mingled  satisfaction,  and  perhaps  jealourj , 
the  condescensions  of  the  Queen ;  for  he  per- 
ceived that  no  artifice  could  more  certainly  serve 
him  to  neutralise  Anne's  enmity,  and  to  annul  her 
influence,  than  to  arouse  the  jealous  ire  of  Louis 
XIII.  as  to  his  consort's  inclination  for  the  Duke 
personally,  and  her  relations  with  him  as  the  am- 
bassador of  the  English  king.  Moreover,  a  scene  of 
levity  in  the  gardens  of  the  Louvre,  most  disgrace- 
ful in  Anne's  position  as  Queen  of  France,  came 
to  the  ears  of  the  minister  ;  and  which,  years 
afterwards,  was  related  in  detail  by  Madame  de 
Chevreuse  to  the  famous  coadjutor,  Cardinal 
de  Retz,  and  is  recorded  by  him,  doubtless  with 
much  profligate  exaggeration,  in  the  original 
edition  of  his  Memoirs. 

The  homage  and  adulations  of  all  the  ladies 
of  the  capital  seem  well-nigh  to  have  turned 
the  ill-poised  mind  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham. 
The  beautiful  Madame  de  Chevreuse  divided  her 
condescensions  between  himself  and  her  old  lover 
Lord  Holland  ;  the  Duchess  de  Guise  regaled  him 
by  sumptuous  banquets  and  masques  ;  the  Queen- 
mother  did  the  honours  of  her  Luxembourg  to  so 
privileged  a  guest ;  Madame  de  Sable  held  recep- 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  79 

tions  in  his  honour,  in  which  the  wit  and  learning 
of  the  capital  were  arrayed  for  his  delectation ; 
and  the  brothers  de  Luynes,  Dukes  de  Chaulnes 
and  de  Luxembourg,  placed  their  establishments 
at  his  disposal.  Conde  held  festivals  at  Chantilly 
in  his  honour ;  the  new  constable  Duke  de  Lesdi- 
guieres,  and  his  plebeian  but  hearty  consort  Marie 
Mignot,  welcomed  the  splendid  ambassador  and 
his  suite.  Anne  of  Austria  was  gracious  ;  his 
Majesty  King  Louis  smiled  grimly  on  the  genial 
representative  of  his  brother-in-law  ;  and  Queen 
Henriette  Marie  left  nothing  to  be  desired  in  her 
anxiety  to  propitiate  the  favourite  who  ruled  the 
court  of  England.  No  wonder  that  Buckingham, 
amid  these  fair  and  witty  dames,  forgot  his  "  silly 
Kate  ;  "  3  and  was  in  no  haste  to  exchange  the 
revels  of  the  Louvre  for  those  of  Whitehall.  His  so- 
journ in  Paris,  however,  did  not  exceed  eight  days. 
The  royal  bride  then  left  the  Louvre,  en  route  for 
Calais,  where  she  was  to  embark  for  England.  The 
Queens  Marie  and  Anne  were  to  accompany  Hen- 
riette and  to  say  farewell  at  Calais.  Richelieu  re- 
mained in  Paris,  while  the  King,  after  taking  leave 
of  his  sister,  repaired  to  Fontainebleau,  where  the 
court  was  to  assemble  on  returning  from  Calais. 

On  the  second  day  of  June  1625,  a  magnificent 
cavalcade  quitted  the  Louvre  and  defiled  through 
the  gates  of  Paris,  on  the  high  road  towards 
Amiens.  The  royal  suite  comprised  the  Duke  and 
Duchess  de  Chevreuse,  Mesdames  de  Launay,  de 
Boissiere,  de  Guercheville  and  de  St.  George  ;  the 
Dukes  de  Bellegarde,  de  la  Force  and  d'Elboeuf, 


80  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [iei7- 

and  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  and  his  colleagues, 
Lords  Carlisle  and  Holland.  At  Amiens  the  royal 
progress  was  arrested  by  the  sudden  indisposition 
of  Marie  de'  Medici.  The  court,  therefore,  halted 
for  the  space  of  a  few  days,  that  the  Queen-mother 
might  be  able  to  resume  her  journey  to  Calais. 
Marie  lodged  in  the  episcopal  palace,  Anne  of 
Austria  in  a  house  with  a  large  garden  attached, 
on  the  banks  of  the  Somme.  Buckingham,  mean- 
time, acted  the  despairing  and  distracted  lover,  at 
the  prospect  of  his  approaching  separation  from 
the  young  Queen,  "  that  fairest  and  sweetest  of 
sovereigns  "  ;  and  to  put  the  mildest  construction 
on  Anne's  conduct,  it  must  have  been  volatile  and 
giddy  to  a  degree,  which  might  warrant  most  in- 
jurious inferences.  There  seems  to  be  little  doubt 
but  that  her  heart  and  fancy  were  touched  by  the 
devotion  of  Buckingham,  who  talked  in  exalted 
strains  of  the  political  wonders  which  he  would 
achieve  for  France  as  a  tribute  to  her  charms. 
The  life  of  the  Queen  had  been  hitherto  so  joyless 
and  uncongenial,  that  probably  the  very  glow  of 
her  gratitude  at  the  Duke's  homage  may  have  in- 
cited him  to  bolder  enterprise.  Festivals,  mean- 
time, diversified  the  sojourn  of  the  court  at 
Amiens.  The  baptism  of  the  eldest  son  of  the 
Duke  de  Chaulnes 34  was  celebrated  by  a  fete  given 
at  the  citadel.  The  sponsors  of  the  young  heir  were 
the  three  queens,  Marie,  Anne  and  Henrietta,  and 
Monsieur.  Buckingham  on  this  occasion  appeared 
in  magnificence  truly  regal,  "  portant  le  plus  bel 
habillement,  et  mieux  assort!  qui  se  verra  jamais !  " 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  81 

He  wore  the  collars  and  badges  of  four  Orders — 
the  Garter,  the  St.  Esprit,  the  Golden  Fleece  and 
the  Order  of  St.  George.  His  hat  was  adorned 
with  a  heron's  plume  blazing  with  diamonds,  and 
fastened  by  a  cluster  of  five  of  the  largest  dia- 
monds belonging  to  the  British  crown.  A  ball 
followed  the  banquet,  which  was  opened  by  Buck- 
ingham and  the  Queen,  Monsieur  dancing  with  his 
sister,  Queen  Henriette.  Madame  de  Chevreuse 
followed,  led  by  Lord  Holland,  and  the  Duke  de 
Chaulnes  danced  with  the  young  Duchess  d'El- 
boeuf.35  The  next  day  Monsieur  gave  a  sumptuous 
entertainment.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  banquet, 
Buckingham  and  the  English  ambassadors  es- 
corted Queen  Anne  to  her  abode.  In  the  garden 
on  the  banks  of  the  Somme,  in  the  soft  June  moon- 
light, another  suspicious  interview  between  the 
Queen  and  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  ensued, 
which  produced  a  disastrous  impression  even  on 
her  Majesty's  truest  friends,  who  felt  how  un- 
generously the  Duke  had  compromised  their  royal 
mistress.  It  appears  that  the  Queen,  attended  by 
the  Duchess  de  Chevreuse,  by  her  lady-in-waiting, 
Madame  du  Vernet,  and  by  her  equerry,  M.  de 
Putange,  and  accompanied  by  the  Duke  of  Buck- 
ingham, and  by  Lord  Holland,  strolled  into  the 
garden  at  dusk  hour.  The  Duke  led  the  Queen, 
Madame  de  Chevreuse  was  escorted  by  Holland, 
and  Madame  du  Vernet  by  M.  de  Putange.  It  was 
the  duty  of  this  last-named  person  never  to  lose 
sight  of  his  royal  mistress,  but  to  be  always  ready 
to  perform  any  slight  service  which  she  might 


82  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1617- 

require.     Nothing  at  first  occurred  to  disturb  the 
serenity  of  the  promenaders  ;   the  Queen  and  her 
cavalier,  with  the  other  personages  of  the  suite, 
reposed  for  some  time  on  chairs  by  the  river  side, 
enjoying  the  refreshing  breeze.     Anne  at  length 
rose,  and  was  led  by  the  Duke  into  an  alley  shaded 
on  one  side  by  lofty  elms,  and  on  the  other  closed 
by  a  tall  trellis  covered  with  creeping  plants.    In- 
stead of  following  the  Queen,  Madame  de  Chev- 
reuse  and  her  cavalier  turned  into  another  sombre 
walk,  while  M.  de  Putange   and  his   companion 
discreetly  remained  seated  where  they  were,  not 
wishing  to  intrude  on  the  conversation  of  such 
illustrious  personages — the  more  so,  as  Putange 
declared  that  he  supposed  M.  de  Buckingham  had 
some  message  to  impart  to  her  Majesty  before  his 
departure,  which  was  fixed  for  the  following  day. 
In  a  few  minutes  the  voice  of  the  Queen  was  heard 
summoning  her  equerry.     Madame  du  Vernet  and 
Putange  hastened  to  join  their  royal  mistress, 
whom  they   found   agitated    and    discomposed, 
while  Buckingham,  with  his  hand  grasping  the 
hilt  of  his  sword,   leaned  defiantly  against  the 
trellis.     Anne  began  to  reprimand  her  lady  and 
her  equerry  for  having  quitted  her  ;  but  when  re- 
spectfully  asked   the   cause    of   her   alarm,    her 
Majesty  replied  in  confusion,  "  that  its  cause  was, 
surprise  at  finding  herself  alone  with  M.  1'Am- 
bassadeur."   "  The  Duke  of  Buckingham,"  relates 
la  Porte,38  an  equerry  who  was  in  attendance  on 
the  Queen  at  Amiens,  "  finding  himself  alone  with 
her  Majesty,  and  favoured  by  the  gathering  ob- 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  83 

scurity,  took  the  insolent  liberty  of  attempting  to 
kiss  the  Queen,  who  immediately  cried  out,  so  that 
aid  quickly  arrived.  Putange,  equerry  in  waiting, 
was  not  far  away  ;  and  doubtless  the  consequences 
might  have  been  perilous  had  not  Putange  per- 
mitted the  said  Duke  to  retire.  Everybody  in  the 
garden  soon  gathered  on  the  spot ;  then  every- 
body fled,  and  it  was  resolved  to  suppress  all 
mention  of  the  matter."  37 

"  Chance,"  says  the  methodical  Madame  de 
Motteville,  the  confidente  of  Anne's  more  sober 
years,  "  having  led  her  Majesty  with  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham  into  a  walk  concealed  by  a  tall  trellis 
or  palisade,  the  Queen,  surprised  at  finding  herself 
alone,  and  doubtless  importuned  and  frightened 
by  some  too  passionate  expressions  from  the  Duke, 
cried  out  aloud,  and  calling  her  equerry  blamed 
him  for  having  neglected  to  follow  her.  By  this 
cry  her  Majesty  demonstrated  her  wisdom  and 
virtue,  preferring  unsullied  innocence  and  self- 
respect,  rather  than  to  yield  to  the  prompting  of 
fear  which  possessed  her,  lest  her  cry  of  distress, 
coming  to  the  ears  of  the  King,  might  cost  her 
much  sorrow.  If  on  this  occasion,"  continues 
Anne's  warm  apologist,  "  her  Majesty  betrayed 
that  her  heart  was  susceptible  of  some  tenderness 
for  the  man  who  adored  her,  it  must  be  owned  that 
her  love  for  virtuous  purity  and  propriety  pre- 
vailed."38 The  following  day,  Buckingham'quitted 
Amiens  with  Queen  Henrietta.  Marie  and  Anne 
escorted  the  bride  for  a  distance  of  one  league  on 
her  road,  for  the  Queen-mother  continued  too 


84  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1617- 

unwell  to  make  the  entire  journey  to  Calais,  and 
King  Charles  was  beginning  to  be  impatient  and 
to  wonder  at  the  delay  of  his  bride.  "  The  Queen 
did  me  the  honour  to  confide  to  me,"  says  Madame 
de  Motteville,  "  that  when  the  Duke  of  Bucking- 
ham presented  himself  to  say  a  last  farewell  and 
to  kiss  her  robe,  she  was  sitting  on  the  front  seat  of 
her  coach  with  the  Princess  de  Conty  by  her  side, 
and  that  the  said  Duke  hid  his  face  behind  the 
curtain  as  if  to  speak  a  few  words  in  private,  but 
in  reality  to  conceal  his  tears,  which  were  falling 
plentifully.  The  Princess  de  Conty  then  said  that 
she  could  answer  to  the  King  for  the  virtue  of  the 
Queen,  though  she  could  not  speak  so  positively 
of  the  hardness  of  her  heart,  as  the  tears  of  the 
Duke  evidently  affected  her  spirits."  Enough  had, 
however,  been  done  and  said  to  render  very 
bitter  the  future  life  of  Anne  of  Austria,  and  to 
fill  the  mind  of  Louis  XIII.  with  suspicion.  From 
the  period  of  the  advent  of  Richelieu  to  power  the 
young  Queen  was  always  attended  by  his  shadow, 
in  the  person  of  a  household  spy  and  informer,  but 
who  the  person  then  was  thus  employed  by  his 
Eminence  does  not  clearly  appear,  though  pro- 
bably it  was  Madame  du  Vernet.39 

The  Duke  of  Orleans,  and  all  the  chief  noblemen 
in  attendance  at  Amiens,  accompanied  Queen 
Henrietta  to  Boulogne,  leaving  their  Majesties 
with  a  very  limited  suite.  Tempestuous  winds, 
however,  unfortunately  prevented  the  embarka- 
tion of  the  Queen  of  England.  The  English  fleet 
lay  at  anchor  in  Boulogne  roads,  having  landed 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  85 

the  Duchess  of  Buckingham,  the  Countess  of  Den- 
bigh and  the  Marchioness  of  Hamilton,  who  had 
been  despatched  by  King  Charles  to  pay  homage 
to  their  royal  mistress.  The  delay  lasted  for  more 
than  a  week,  during  which  Anne  frequently  cor- 
responded with  Madame  de  Chevreuse  and  sent 
her  letters  by  La  Porte.  "  I  came  and  I  returned," 
says  the  latter  ;  "  I  carried  letters  to  Madame  de 
Chevreuse  and  returned  with  her  replies,  which 
appeared  to  be  of  the  utmost  consequence,  be- 
cause Queen  Anne  ordered  M.  le  Due  Chaulnes  to 
take  care  that  the  gates  of  Amiens  were  never 
closed,  so  that  I  might  not  be  delayed  at  any  hour, 
even  in  the  night."40  Anne  at  the  time  when  she 
issued  so  unusual  an  order  little  dreamed  of  the 
construction  likely  to  be  attached  thereto.  A  prey 
to  the  wildest  grief  at  quitting  France,  Bucking- 
ham determined  to  bid  one  more  distracted  adieu 
14  to  the  fairest  vision  which  had  ever  gladdened 
his  sight."  An  express  from  his  master  King 
Charles  served  as  an  excuse  for  his  sudden  return 
to  Amiens  with  La  Porte  accompanied  by  Lord 
Holland,  under  pretext  that  he  was  ordered  to 
consult  the  Queen-mother  on  some  matter,  as  he 
said,  relative  to  the  reception  in  London  of  Car- 
dinal de  Berulle  and  of  Henrietta's  unwelcome 
suite  of  ecclesiastics.  Madame  de  Chevreuse, 
meantime  despatched  private  letters  to  Anne  of 
Austria,  warning  her  of  Buckingham's  audacious 
intentions  and  counselling  her  not  to  admit  him 
to  her  presence.  Buckingham's  consort  also  sent 
a  humble  missive  to  Anne,  accompanied  by  an 


86  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1617- 

elegant  fan  of  feathers  adorned  with  the  portraits 
of  Charles  I.  and  of  her  husband.  While  the  Duke 
proceeded  to  audience  of  Queen  Marie,  La  Porte 
sought  the  abode  of  the  young  Queen  and  was 
admitted  to  her  ante-room.  Anne  was  in  bed, 
having  recently  been  bled ;  she  took  the  letters  from 
La  Porte  with  an  indifferent  air,  and  exclaimed 
after  perusing  them,  hearing  of  the  arrival  of  the 
Duke,  "  They  are  indeed  come  back,  these  cava- 
liers ;  I  thought  that  we  were  delivered  finally  from 
the  society  of  4  ces  Messieurs ' !  "  Anne,  therefore, 
being  forewarned,  had  leisure  to  deny  admittance 
to  the  Duke  had  she  been  wisely  inclined.  Having 
rapidly  despatched  his  business  with  the  Queen- 
mother,  Buckingham  hurried  to  Anne's  abode. 

The  Queen  was  jesting  with  Madame  de  la 
Boissiere  on  the  Duke's  return,  when  he  abruptly 
entered  the  apartment.  Without  observing  the 
preliminary  salutations  prescribed  by  royal  eti- 
quette to  those  persons  admitted  to  such  audience, 
the  Duke  rushed  forward,  and  dropped  on  his 
knees  by  the  Queen's  pillow.  So  great  apparently 
was  Anne's  surprise,  that  she  remained  silent  for 
some  moments,  and  then  turned  an  appealing 
look,  half  laughing,  half  weeping,  at  the  grim 
matron  her  lady  of  honour,  who  stood  in  the  ruelle 
of  the  bed.  "  4  Monseigneur,'  said  Madame  de 
Launay,  indignantly,  '  it  is  not  our  custom  to  act 
as  you  are  now  doing  !  '  'Madame,  I  am  not  a 
Frenchman,  neither  am  I  bound  by  your  laws  !  ' 
So  saying,"  relates  Madame  de  Motteville,  "  he 
addressed  the  Queen,  uttering  aloud  tender  decla- 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  87 

rations.  Her  Majesty  replied  by  complaining 
of  his  audacity,  but  without  perhaps  showing  as 
much  anger  as  she  ought ;  but  still,  commanding 
the  said  Duke,  in  severe  tones,  to  rise  and  retire 
from  her  presence."  41  "When  I  returned  to  her 
Majesty  to  receive  her  orders  for  the  morrow," 
nevertheless,  relates  La  Porte,  "  I  found  both  my 
English  lords,  who  were  staying  much  later  than 
etiquette  admitted.  Madame  de  Launay,  the 
lady  in  waiting,  never  left  her  Majesty's  side, 
neither  would  she  permit  any  of  the  attendant 
women  and  officers  of  the  chamber  to  depart, 
until  these  gentlemen  had  taken  their  leave."  42 
Buckingham  again  obtained  audience  of  Anne  on 
the  following  day,  and  then  took  his  final  de- 
parture for  Boulogne. 

The  young  Queen  of  England  sailed  on  the  22nd 
of  June,43  much  to  the  delight  of  King  Charles  and 
of  his  goodly  company  of  lords  and  ladies,  who  had 
been  waiting  the  arrival  of  the  beautiful  bride 
since  the  beginning  of  the  month.  "  Queen  Henri- 
etta— so  it  is  alleged — was  detained  by  her 
mother's  illness ;  but  if  all  be  true  that  is  re- 
ported, they  can  have  made  no  great  haste,  having 
to  march  to  Boulogne  instead  of  Calais,  with  a 
little  army  of  4000  at  least,  whereof  the  Duke  de 
Chevreuse  and  his  followers  make  up  300,  besides 
60  that  belong  to  his  kitchen." 

On  the  same  day  the  French  court  set  out  for 
Fontainebleau,  where  Louis  XIII.  waited.  Anne 
trembled,  as  she  anticipated  the  effect  which  the 
report  of  the  festivities  at  Amiens  might  have 


88  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1617- 

produced  on  the  mind  of  her  stern  consort.  ;c  The 
King,"  relates  La  Porte,  the  most  faithful  of  all 
Anne's  adherents,  "  testified  the  strongest  jealousy 
at  all  these  proceedings,  and  believed  the 
malignant  interpretation  put  upon  them  by  her 
Majesty's  enemies.  The  Queen-mother,  however, 
tried  to  disabuse  her  son's  mind,  and  told  him 
that  it  was  nothing,  for  that  if  the  Queen  had 
desired  to  do  evil  it  was  impossible,  she  having  had 
so  many  around  her.  This  reason,  though  incon- 
testable, did  not  extinguish  the  jealousy  of  the 
King,  as  he  proceeded  to  demonstrate."  On  the 
20th  of  July,  just  five  days  after  the  arrival  of 
Anne  of  Austria  at  Fontainebleau,  Louis  sent  his 
confessor,  le  P.  Segueran,  to  intimate  to  Madame 
du  Vernet  his  will  that  she  should  resign  her 
office  of  dame  (Valours  to  the  Queen  his  consort 
and  retire  from  court.  The  same  dismissal  was 
given  to  M.  de  Putange  and  to  the  Queen's  first 
physician,  Ribera,44  who  both  departed  from  the 
palace  on  the  same  day.  The  Chevalier  du  Jars, 
another  officer  of  the  Queen's  household,  whom 
her  Majesty  had  just  sent  to  England  with  letters 
for  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  and  one  whom  she 
especially  favoured,  was  likewise  dismissed.  La 
Porte  was  also  included  in  the  sentence,  his  zeal 
for  the  Queen's  service  being  well  known.  On  the 
21st  of  July,  therefore,  Segu&ran  again  made  his 
ominous  appearance  at  her  Majesty's  lever.  "  The 
King,  Madame,  desires  that  you  will  still  dismiss 
another  servant  of  your  household  of  the  name  of 
La  Porte."  "  The  Queen  looked  at  me  very 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  89 

sorrowfully,  and  then  desired  the  reverend 
father  to  say  to  his  Majesty,  that  she  begged  him 
to  name  at  once  all  those  persons  whom  he  would 
not  permit  her  to  retain,  that  the  affair  might  be 
ended."  These  proceedings  greatly  increased  the 
discord  between  the  royal  pair.45  Louis  addressed 
the  sharpest  of  written  rebukes  to  his  thoughtless 
consort,  and  even  threatened  her  with  divorce. 
4  Teatino  !  so  early  a  visit  as  this  to  my  lady 
Queen  bodes  no  good.  Alas  !  the  signs  are  evil !  " 
had  been  the  exclamation  of  Dona  Estephania, 
Anne's  Spanish  tirewoman  and  nurse,  when  she 
had  admitted  Father  Segueran  to  the  presence  of 
her  royal  mistress. 

Anne  remained  at  Fontainebleau  in  a  condition 
of  great  depression  and  solitude  for  upwards  of 
two  months.  She  seems  to  have  offered  no  excuses 
to  her  royal  husband,  while  her  resentment 
against  Richelieu  glowed  fiercely.  Anne,  in  her 
wrath,  accused  the  Cardinal  of  seeking  to  sow 
dissension  between  the  King  and  herself  to  pro- 
cure her  divorce,  so  that  Louis  might  marry 
Richelieu's  niece,  la  Veuve  Combalet — a  pretty  but 
shrewish  woman,  who,  during  her  uncle's  despotic 
reign,  shared  his  influence,  and  became  the  di- 
vinity of  the  politic  Parisians.  Richelieu  made 
several  attempts  to  conciliate  her  Majesty  and  to 
intercede  for  her  restoration  to  the  good  graces  of 
her  husband.  Anne  repulsed  every  overture, 
but  drew  forth  her  weapons  of  retaliation,  and 
"  offered  the  astute  Cardinal  war  to  the  death." 
It  might  have  been  supposed  that  the  chagrin  and 


90  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1617- 

anxiety  which  Anne  had  endured  would  have 
taught  her  prudence,  instead  of  which  her  cor- 
respondence multiplied  with  Madame  de  Chev- 
reuse,  who  still  remained  in  England,  and  with 
the  newly-arrived  Spanish  ambassador,  the  Mar- 
quis de  Mirabel.  She  manifested  interest  in  all 
the  proceedings  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  and 
once,  when  some  alleged  act  of  the  Duke's  was 
accidentally  discussed  in  her  presence,  she  coolly 
contradicted  the  report,  saying,  "je  viens  de  re- 
cevoir  de  ses  lettres !  '  In  England,  also,  the 
Duke's  enthusiasm  for  Anne  of  Austria  was  not 
tempered  by  prudential  considerations,  or  by 
delicacy  for  the  feelings  and  honour  of  a  great 
monarch,  the  brother  of  his  own  royal  mistress, 
Queen  Henrietta.  He  wore  Anne's  portrait, 
toasted  her  at  the  Whitehall  banquets,  displayed 
her  likeness  in  most  of  the  chambers  of  his  princely 
mansions,  disregardful  of  the  feelings  of  his  own 
"  silly  Kate  " ;  all  which  aberrations  were  duly 
chronicled  by  the  French  ambassador  in  London, 
and  transmitted  for  the  perusal  of  the  Cardinal 
minister,  and  to  become  the  source  of  endless 
gloomy  ponderings  in  the  mind  of  King  Louis. 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  TWO 

1  When  she  was  informed  of  the  assassination  of    Concini,  Marie  de' 
Medici  exclaimed,  "  J'ai  regne  sept  ans ;    je  n'attends  plus    qu'une 
couronne  au  Ciel !  "    Some  one  present  uttered  an  ejaculation  of  pity 
for  the  fate  of  the  marquis  and  his  wife.     Marie  wrathfully  replied, 
"  Qu'on  ne  me  parle  plus  de  ces  gens-la  ;  je  les  ai  avertis  du  malheur 
ou  ils  se  sont  precipites  !     Que  ne  suivoient-ils  mes  avis  ?  " 

2  Recit  veritable  de  tout  ce  qui  s'est  passe  au  Louvre,  &c.,  Archives 
Curieuses,  t.  2,  2eme  serie. — Hist,  de  la  Mere  et  du  Fils,  Richelieu. — 
Le  Vassor,  Hist,  du  Regne  de  Louis  XIII. — Vie  de  Marie  de'  Medici, 
Dreux  du  Radier. 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  91 

3  Histoire  Tragique  du  Marquis  d'Ancre  et  de  sa  Femme,  Archives 
Curieuses,  t.  2,  2eme  serie.  Bibl.  Imp.  MS.  Dupuy,  voL  661,  fol.  127. 

4  Dreux  du  Radier,  Vie  de  la  Reine  Anne  d'Autriche. — Cayet,  Chron. 
Septenaire.     Tallemant  des  Reaux.     Concini's  son  eventually  became 
possessed  of  the  foreign  investments  made  by  his  parents,  and  inherited 
a  patrimony  of  2000  pounds  of  annual  revenue.     He  died  without 
posterity,  at  Florence. 

6  "  La  douceur  complaisante  de  son  visage  luy  est  comme  une  lettre 
generale  de  creance  pour  toute  sorte  d'affaires ;  et  vers  toutes  sortes 
de  personnes." 

6  "  La  femme  de  Luynes  est  une  escervelee,  qui  n'a  que  dix-neuf  ans, 
a  laquelle  son  mari  bailie  une  governante  pour  la  conduire  ;  et  cepen- 
dant  M.  de  Luynes  veut  qui  la  maison  de  la  reine  passe  sous  sa  dis- 
position," &c. — Le  Contadin  Proven9al, — Pamphlet  centre  M.  le  Due 
de  Luynes,  Connetable  de  France. 

7  MS.  Simancas,  A.  75. — Capefigue,  Vie  d'Anne  d'Autriche ;  the  words  of 
the  despatch  are  "  y  que  por  no  veria,  dixava  no  dormir  con  la  Reyna." 

8  "  Le  Roy  etait  bon  confiturier,  bon  jardinier  ;  il  fit  murir  des  pois  verts, 
qu'il  envoya  vendre  au  marche.      On  dit  que  Montauron  les  acheta  bien 
cher,  car  c'etaient  les  premiers  venus." — Tallemant,  Vie  de  Louis  XIII. 

9  Bassompierre,  Journal  de  ma  Vie. 

10  Hist,  de  la  Mere  et  du  Fils,  t.  2.     Dreux  du  Radier,  t.  5. 

11  "  Marier  ma  fille  a  un  prince  etranger  sans  m'avoir  appelee,  afin 
que  ma  honte  soit  manifesto  a  tous  les  roys  et  princes  de  la  Chrestiente, 
et  de  toute  la  France,"  wrote  Marie,  indignantly,  in  the  letter  addressed 
to  her  son,  and  entitled  "  Plaintes  de  la  Reyne-Mere  au  Roy  son  Fils." 

12  Anne  wrote  from  Tours  a  pleasant  little  note  to  Madame  de  Montglat, 
who  still  resided  at  St.  Germain,  as  preceptress  to  the  sisters  of  the  King. 
Her  Majesty  desired  her  love  to  the  Princesses — "  mais  non  pas  a  ma 
scaur  de  Verneuil,  qui  estuneparesseuse." — MS.  Bibl.  Imp.  F.  fr.  3818. 

13  "La    Duchesse    de  Luynes    etait    tres  bien  avec  son  mari." — 
Madame  de  Motteville,  Mem.,  vol.  i. 

14  One  day  Louis,  riding  by  the  Hotel  de  Luynes,  saw  the  English 
ambassador  alight  from  his  coach  and  enter  the  mansion.     "  Ah ! 
il  va  a  1'audience  du  Roi  Luynes,"  bitterly  exclaimed  the  Bong. 

15  Anne  Marie  de  Luynes,  who  died  a  nun,  at  Maubuisson,  in  great 
odour  of  piety.     The  son  of  the  Constable,  Louis  Charles  Albert,  Due 
de  Luynes,  was  born  December  25,  1620,  and  died  October  1690. 

16  Charlotte  Marguerite  de  Montmorency. 

17  Journal  de  ma  Vie,  Bassompierre. — Annee  1622. 

18  Laurence  de  Clermont,  the  third  wife  of  the  Constable  Henri  Due 
de  Montmorency. — See  Freer's  Last  Decade  of  a  Glorious  Reign,  for 
the  history  of  the  Duchess,  and  of  her  persecutions,  vol.  2,  p.  17. 

19  Un  gentil  mot  du  Sieur  de  Pluvinel  etait — Que  le  Roy  a  pied  est 
Roy  de  ses  sujets ;    mais  qu'a  cheval  il  est   Roy   des  Rois — voulank 
montrer  combien  est  excellente  en  cette  art  sa  majeste. — Le  Portrait 


92  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [iei7- 

du  Roy  Louis  XIII.,  par  le  Sieur  de  Bellemavre  au  Sieur  de  M6rencourt 
a  Venise.     Paris,  1618. 

20  Marie  de  Rohan,  widow  of  the  deceased  Constable  de  Luynes.     She 
married  the  Duke  de  Chevreuse  in  1622.     "  C'e"tait  le  second  des  MM.  de 
Guise,  et  le  mieux  fait  de  tous  les  quatre :  le  Cardinal  etait  plus  beau, 
mais  M.  de  Chevreuse  etait  1'homme  de  la  meilleure  mine  qu'on  pouvait 
voir ;   il  avait  de  1'esprit  passablement." — Tallemant,  t.  2,  p.  38. 

21  "  Le   Due   de    Montmorency    6tait    tres   assidu    aupres    d'Anne 
d'Autriche ;    il  fit  merne  le  passione.     Louis  en  parut  alarme  ;    et 
les  amis  du  Due  lui  conseillerent  de  s'absenter  de  la  cour,  Marie  de' 
Medici  se  chargeant  de  convaincre  son  fils  que  ce  bruit  injurieux  a 
la  jeune  reine  n'etait  qu'une  imposture  des  ennemis  de  Montmorency." 
— Anquetil,  Tallemant.     Madame  de  Motteville  allows  that  the  Duke 
permitted  himself  great  liberty  towards  the  Queen,  under  the  cloak 
of  what  was  termed  "  la  galanterie  espagnole." 

22  Fran§ois  Leclerc  de  Tremblay,  born  in  Paris,  Nov.   4,  1577,  son 
of  Jean  Leclerc  de  Tremblay,  French  Ambassador  at  Venice,  chancellor 
of  the  Duke  d'Alenson,  brother  of  Henry  III.,  and  of  Marie  de  la 
Fayette,  daughter  of  Claude  de  la  Fayette,  Sieur  de  St.  Romain.     He 
took  the  habit  of  St.  Francis,  February  2,  1599,  and  entered  the 
monastery  of  the  Great  Franciscans,  Rue  St.  Honored 

23  Marie  Madeleine    de    Vignerot,  daughter  of    Rene    de  Vignerot, 
Seigneur  de  Pont  de  Courlay,  and  of  Fran9oise  du  Plessis -Richelieu, 
sister  of  the  Cardinal.     Marie  de'  Medici  presented  the  bride  with  a 
dowry  of  200,000  livres,  and  a  parure  of  diamonds  worth  12,000  crowns. 

24  "  Le  Cardinal  haissait  Monsieur  ;  et  craignant,  vu  le  peu  de  sante 
que  le  Roi  avait,  qu'il  ne  parvint  a  la  couronne,  il  fit  dessein  de  gagner 
la  Reine.     Pour  parvenir  a  son  but,  il  la  mit  sans  qu'elle  sut  d'ou  cela 
venait  fort  mal  avec  le  Roi  et  avec  la  Reine-mere,  jusque-la  qu'elle 
etait  fort  maltraitee  de  1'un  et  de  1'autre.     Apres  il  lui  fit  dire,  par 
Madame  de  Fargis,  dame  d'atours,  que  si  elle  vouloit,  il  le  tireroit 
bientdt  de  la  misere  dans  laquelle  elle  vivoit." — Tallemant,  t.  2,  p.  282. 

25  Mem.  de  Brienne,  1. 1,  p.  274.     "  On  rioit  a  gorge  d6ploy6e  ;  et  qui 
pouvait  s'en  empecher,  puisque  apres  cinquante  ans  j'en  ris  encore  moi- 
meme  ?  "  asks  the  Count  de  Brienne,  when  he  ends  his  story. 

26  The  Infanta  Marguerite  espoused  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  III. 

27  Thomson's  Life  of  George  Villiers,  Duke  of  Buckingham. 

28  Godefroy,  Grand  Cerem.  de  France,  t.  2.     Mercure  de  France,  ann. 
1625.  "Apres  suivaitle  reine  de  France  tressuperbement  vetued'unerobe 
de  toile  d'argent  en  broderie  ;  menee  et  conduite  par  ses  deux  6cuyers." 

29  Thomson's  Life  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham. 

30  Bassompierre.     Mem.  d'un   Favory  du  Due  d'Orleans :    ecrit  par 
M.  de  Bois  d'Annernets — 1'heureux  Favory.     Thomson's  Life  of  the 
Duke  of  Buckingham,     Cabala  MS.,  312. 

31  The  Duke  was  hospitably  entertained  by  the  Duke  de  Chevreuse 
at  his  hdtel,  Rue  St.  Thomas  du  Louvre. 


1625]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  93 

32  M6m.  de  Madame  de  Motteville,  t.  1.    Madame  de  Motteville  was  not 
an  eye-witness  of  the  facts  she  records,  as  she  had  not  then  permanently 
entered  into  the  service  of  the  Queen.  She  records  the  reminiscences  and 
confessions  of  Anne  of  Austria.     It  was  in  the  year  1640  that  Madame 
de  Motteville  became  resident  bed-chamber  woman  to  the  Queen. 

33  The  name  given  to  the  Duchess  of  Buckingham  in  their  corre- 
spondence by  King  Charles  and  her  husband. 

34  Honore  d'Albert,  Seigneur  de  Cadenet,  created  Duke  de  Chaulnes 
on  his  marriage  with  Charlotte  d'Ailly,  Countess  de  Chaulnes  and 
de  Pequiny.     The  King  gave  him  the  government  of  Picardy. 

35  Catherine  Henriette  de  Bourbon,  daughter  of  Henri  Quatre  and 
Gabrielle  d'Estrees.     The  Duchess  died  June  20,  1663. 

36  Laporte,  who  was  confidentially  trusted  by  the  queen,  and  who 
was  then  an  inmate  of  her  abode  in  Amiens,  gives  the  following  relation 
of  the  adventure :    "  Apres  s'etre  bien  promenee  la  reine  se  reposa 
quelque  temps,  et  toutes  les  dames  aussi  ;  puis  elle  se  levait  et  dans  le 
tournement  d'une  allee  ou  les  dames  ne  la  suivirent  pas,  sitdt  le  due  de 
Buckingham  se  voyant  seul  avec  elle  a  la  faveur  de  1'obscurite  qui 
commengait  a  chasser  la  lumiere,  s'emancipa  fort  insolemment  jusqu'a 
vouloir  caresser  la  Reine,  qui  en  meme  temps  fit  un  cri  auquel  tout  le 
monde  accourut." — Mem.  Particuliers  de  La  Porte  :   Geneve,  1756. 

37  Ibid.,  Mem.  de  La  Porte. 

38  Mem.  de  Motteville,  tome  1.     The  Duke  de  la  Rochefoucauld  also 
relates  the  incident,  which  created  unspeakable  consternation  and 
comment.    He  says,  "  Que  la  reine  fut  contrainte  d'appeler  ses  femmes." 

39  Nicolette  d'Albert,  youngest  sister  of  the  Constable  de  Luynes  ;  she 
espoused  M.  Vernet,  a  person  of  low  origin,  dancing-master  to  the  pages 
of  the  Duke  de  Montmorency.     Mademoiselle  d'Albert,  previous  to  her 
marriage,  had  greatly  compromised  her  reputation.     She  was  hand- 
some and  sprightly,  and  through  her  brother's  influence  was  appointed 
dame  d'atours  to  the  Queen,  while  her  husband  was  made  Governor 
of  Calais.     She  subsequently  married  Henri  de  la  Marck  Due  de 
Bouillon,  through  the  favour  of  Richelieu. 

40  Mem.  Particuliers  de  M.  de  La  Porte. 

41  Mem.  de  Motteville,  t.  1. 

42  La  Porte,  Mem.  Particuliers.     These  memoirs  are  included  in  the 
Collection  Petitot. 

43  Mem.  d'un  Favory  de  Monseigneur  le  Due  de  Orleans.     "  C'etoit 
une  chose  admirable  de  voir  se  superbe  appareil  (de  vaisseaux  Anglais) ; 
on  ne  se  la  peut  representer  qu'on  ne  s'imagine  de  voir  une  grande 
ville  flottante  ayant  plusieurs  clochers." 

44  The  reason  of  the  disgrace  of  Anne's  Spanish  physician  has  never 
been  ascertained.     Ribera  was  not  permitted  to  remain  in  France. 

45  Anne  sharply  observed  one  day  to  her  royal  consort,  "  Qu'elle  n'avait 
pu  empecher  que  le  Due  de  Boukingham  n'eut  de  1'estime,  et  memo 
de  1'amour  d'elle  !  "  an  observation  which  greatly  incensed  the  King. 


CHAPTER  III 

1626 

ANNE    OF   AUSTRIA   AND   THE    CONSPIRACY   OF   THE 
PRINCE    DE    CHALAIS 

THE  marriage  of  Madame  Henriette  over,  the 
excitement  of  the  court  subsided,  and  the  daily 
incidents  of  the  palace  were  varied  only  by  the 
dissensions  and  reconciliations  of  Marie  de'  Medici 
and  her  minister.  These  violent  spirits  differed, 
clamoured,  threatened  each  other  with  annihila- 
tion, wept  and  embraced.  The  successful  issue  of 
Richelieu's  policy  in  the  affair  of  the  strongholds 
of  the  Valteline,  which  France  refused  to  deliver 
up  to  the  Holy  See  pending  the  settlement  of  the 
question  relative  to  the  disputed  possession  of 
these  places,  raised  the  reputation  of  his  Eminence 
to  high  repute.  The  important  concessions, 
moreover,  which  Richelieu  wrested  from  some  of 
the  chief  Huguenots  of  the  realm,  and  his  firm 
attitude  in  upholding  the  majesty  and  dignity  of 
the  crown,  delighted  the  King,  whose  aspirations 
were  despotic  though  he  lacked  firmness  to  en- 
force his  will.  In  the  deportment  of  the  Cardinal 
there  was  a  novel  ingredient  which  astonished  and 
awed  the  swarm  of  unruly  courtiers,  who  had  ren- 
dered the  regency  of  the  Queen-mother  one  vast 
cabal.  Richelieu  jested  with  the  merry,  wept  with 
the  melancholy,  granted  favours  to  the  unfortun- 

94 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  95 

ate,  looked  downcast  under  verbal  obloquy,  and 
even  seemed  anxious  to  turn  away  wrath  by  the 
magic  of  a  soft  answer  ;  great,  therefore,  had  been 
the  individual  surprises  of  certain  railers,  malcon- 
tents and  caballers,  to  find  themselves  suddenly 
transported  to  the  Bastille  by  virtue  of  a  privy- 
council  warrant ;  or  seized  in  the  night,  and  con- 
veyed under  escort  to  some  distant  chateau,  all 
under  the  hand  and  seal  of  the  gracious  church- 
man who  dominated  at  the  Louvre.  Le  Pere 
Joseph,1  or  /' Eminence  Grise,  as  was  the  sobriquet 
of  the  able  tool  of  Richelieu — so  clever,  indeed, 
that  doubt  arises  whether  the  Cardinal  was  not  the 
puppet,  and  le  Pere  Joseph  the  motive  power  in 
the  relation  between  these  astute  men — also  was 
fast  rising  into  a  personage  of  importance,  being 
treated  with  deference  by  the  ministers  whom  it 
had  pleased  Richelieu  to  retain  at  their  posts. 

Over  the  life  of  Anne  of  Austria,  however,  the 
darkest  blight  had  fallen.  Her  lord,  King  Louis, 
suffered  her  indeed  to  live  under  the  sheltering 
roof  of  his  royal  Louvre,  but  he  permitted  her 
there  to  exist  only  as  a  political  and  social  nullity 
to  whom  the  most  ordinary  amusements  of  her 
rank  and  station  were  denied :  a  Queen  who  had 
to  ask  permission  to  quit  the  precincts  of  the 
palace,  who  could  confer  no  favour,  and  whose 
splendour,  even  on  public  occasions,  was  surpassed 
by  that  of  the  Queen-mother,  to  whom  she  had  to 
yield  precedence.  The  proud  spirit  of  the  Queen 
rebelled  against  these  restrictions  ;  over  the  heart 
of  her  husband  her  beauty  exercised  no  spell,  to 


96  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1626 

him  her  vivacity  was  repellant,    while  the  very 
sound  of  her  rich  and  sonorous  language  reminded 
Louis  of  a  foe.     No  rival,  nevertheless,  dominated 
over  the   heart   of  the   boy-king ;     the   wanton 
beauties  of  the  late  reign  never  attracted  a  glance 
from  the  sad  eyes  of  Louis  XIII.,    indeed,  flip- 
pancy of  manner  was  punished  by  exclusion  from 
the  Louvre — a  rigour  which  was  for  some  time  un- 
sparingly exercised  after  the  scandals  of  Henri- 
etta's marriage  festivities.     Anne's  most  happy 
time  was  spent  in  seclusion  at  St.  Germain,  where 
she  often  craved  permission  to  sojourn  followed 
by  a  few  ladies,  in  order  to  superintend  the  forma- 
tion of  the  gardens  planned  by  Henri  Quatre.  The 
Queen   passionately  loved  flowers,2  and   a  simi- 
larity of  taste  often  brought  into  her  society  her 
young  and  brilliant  brother-in-law,  Monsieur.  Im- 
petuous in  all  things,  Anne  gave  herself  up  to  the 
pleasure  of  his  society,  and  discarded  in  favour 
of  Monsieur  most  of  the  etiquettes  which  then 
hedged  in  a  queen  of  France,  even  from  familiarity 
with  her  husband's  brother.     She  was  heard  to 
address  Monsieur  in  public  as  monfrere,  she  per- 
mitted him  to  kiss  her  hands,  to  enter  her  pre- 
sence unannounced,  she  sent  him  letters,  which 
she  asserted  related  only  to  botany,  a  science  in 
which  the  young  Duke  was  an  adept.     In  short, 
with  girlish  coquetry  Anne  was  preparing  for  her- 
self a  more  cruel  ordeal  than  any  she  had  yet 
undergone. 

Gaston,  Duke  of  Orleans,  had  now  attained  his 
eighteenth  year.   Heir-presumptive  to  a  throne — 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  97 

the  occupier  of  which  was  childless,  and  pro- 
nounced by  the  most  learned  physicians  of  the 
realm  to  be  in  a  condition  of  health,  from  epileptic 
fits  and  other  maladies,  from  which  fatal  results 
might  ensue  at  any  period — Monsieur  was  a  per- 
sonage to  be  revered  and  conciliated. 

Fondly  beloved  from  his  youth  upwards  by  his 
mother,  and  indulged  by  her  without  reason,  the 
young  Duke,  until  after  the  exile  of  Queen  Marie, 
set  discipline  at  defiance.  The  late  King  had 
nominated  M.  de  Breves  as  the  governor  of  his  son 
Gaston — a  statesman  of  enlightenment,  who  had 
added  to  the  glory  of  the  reign  of  Henri  Quatre  by 
his  able  diplomacy  at  foreign  courts.  His  attach- 
ment to  Marie  de'  Medici  rendering  him  suspected, 
de  Breves  was  dismissed  by  the  Constable  de 
Luynes,  who  gave  the  office  to  his  own  early 
patron,  the  Count  de  Lude.  M.  de  Lude  was  too 
wealthy  and  influential  a  nobleman  to  give  that 
abject  obedience  to  the  royal  commands  expected 
from  him,  and  therefore  soon  resigned  his  post  to 
the  Marshal  d'Ornano,  who  forthwith  entered  on 
his  functions,  and  prospered.  Monsieur,  on  the 
completion  of  his  education,  became  the  centre  of 
a  knot  of  idle,  insolent  and  mischievous  young 
cavaliers,  who,  living  on  their  wits,  and  by  the 
sufferance  of  certain  potent  dames  of  the  court, 
sought  to  kindle  the  ambition  of  their  royal 
master,  and  to  urge  him  into  endless  schemes 
opposed  to  the  government  of  the  King,  all  tend- 
ing to  their  own  aggrandisement.  The  leaders 
amongst  these  gentlemen  were  MM.  de  Puylau- 


98  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1626 

rens,  de  Chalais,  de  la  Valette,  de  Bois  d'Anne- 
mets,  the  Duke  de  Vendome  and  the  Grand  Prior 
his  brother,  the  young  Count  de  Lude,  M.  de 
Marcheville,  the  Count  de  Louvigny,  and  MM.  de 
Coigneux  and  de  la  Riviere  and  others.3  These 
unruly  spirits  professed  reverential  devotion  for 
the  Queens,  Anne  and  Marie  ;  they  sympathised 
with  the  former,  and  to  mark  such  feeling  at- 
tended assiduously  the  levers  of  the  Spanish  ambas- 
sador. The  Cardinal  de  Richelieu  they  abhorred 
and  ridiculed,  while  they  crooned  over  his 
Majesty,  and  predicted  his  early  death  and  the 
consequent  elevation  of  their  own  royal  master. 
Instead  of  checking  this  license  of  word  and  deed, 
d'Ornano  encouraged  such,  being  convinced  like- 
wise that  Gaston  would  ultimately  become  King 
of  France.  It  might  seem  difficult  for  these  mis- 
chief-makers to  find  grievances  for  Monsieur,  who 
was  young,  flattered,  indulged  and  surfeited  with 
luxury  and  wealth  ;  nevertheless,  two  wrongs  by 
which  he  was  afflicted  were  discovered,  discussed 
and  unfolded.  The  first  grievance  was  the  alliance 
contracted  for  the  Duke  with  Marie  de  Montpen- 
sier  :  the  which  barred  him  from  the  free  choice 
of  a  consort,  deprived  him  of  the  influence  accru- 
ing from  a  foreign  alliance,  and  rendered  him  for 
ever  subject  in  purse  and  dignity  to  his  brother  the 
King.  The  betrothal  of  the  Duke  to  Mademoiselle 
de  Montpensier  was  the  subject  of  much  factious 
discussion.  The  King,  the  Queen-mother,  and 
Richelieu  promoted  it  as  a  matter  of  sound  policy 
and  of  honourable  fulfilment  of  a  pledge  given  by 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  99 

the  late  king.  The  Prince  and  Princess  de  Conde 
naturally  gave  no  encouragement  to  a  marriage 
which  would  probably  remove  Conde  from  his 
proud  position  of  the  third  personage  in  the  realm. 
A  portion  of  the  house  of  Guise-Lorraine  jealously 
deprecated  the  elevation  of  its  head,  by  the 
marriage  of  the  step-daughter  of  M.  de  Guise  with 
the  heir-presumptive.  Gaston  himself  spoke  spite- 
fully of  his  pale  fiancee,  and  imprudently  de- 
clared that,  like  M.  de  Buckingham,  he  would  vow 
allegiance  only  to  his  sister-in-law,  Queen  Anne. 
The  young  Count  de  Soissons  opposed  the  alliance 
on  the  ground  that  Mademoiselle  de  Montpensier 
had  been  promised  to  himself  by  Marie  de'  Medici 
during  her  regency,  in  lieu  of  her  own  daughter 
Madame  Henriette  should  the  alliance  of  the 
latter  with  the  heir  of  the  English  crown  be  ac- 
complished. The  sentiments  of  the  young  princess 
were  in  favour  of  alliance  with  Monsieur,  and 
probably  no  person  was  more  astonished  than 
Marie  de  Montpensier  herself  to  hear  a  union  dis- 
cussed which  from  childhood  she  had  deemed  to 
be  her  destiny.  Anne  very  imprudently  suffered 
her  wishes  and  opinions  on  the  alliance  to  tran- 
spire, which  declaration  was  met  on  the  part  of 
the  King  by  an  absolute  command  to  Monsieur  to 
fulfil  his  engagement.  The  Queen-mother  at  the 
same  time  reiterated  this  order,  though  it  is  be- 
lieved that  she  now  secretly  encouraged  the  Duke 
in  his  aversion  for  his  betrothed.  The  faltering 
health  of  King  Louis  rendered  Monsieur  a  grand 
card  in  the  hands  of  skilful  diplomatists.  Spain 


100  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1626 

wished  to  maintain  the  French  alliance.  Anne  of 
Austria,  childless,  and  probably  soon  likely  to  be- 
come a  widow,  pleased  the  young  prince,  and  was 
said  to  be  herself  influenced  by  his  fascinations. 
The  question,  therefore,  arose  in  the  subtle  brain 
of  the  Queen-mother  whether  sound  policy,  and  a 
due  regard  to  her  own  interest,  did  not  direct  that 
Gaston  d'Orleans,  on  succeeding  to  his  brother's 
crown,  should  also  take  to  wife  the  widow  of  his 
predecessor  ?  It  is  asserted,  and  on  very  strong 
evidence,  that  the  young  Queen  likewise  pondered 
deeply  on  this  question,  and  eventually  signified 
to  Mirabel,  and  to  others,  her  willingness,  in  case 
of  widowhood,  to  follow  the  example  of  Queen 
Anne  de  Bretagne,  who  twice  wore  the  matri- 
monial crown  of  France.4  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  at  this  period  the  alliance  between  Monsieur 
and  the  Queens  to  overthrow  the  power  of  Riche- 
lieu was  projected.  Marie  de'  Medici  fiercely  re- 
sented the  independence  of  Richelieu,  and  hated 
his  system  of  centralisation  and  repression  ;  and 
to  procure  his  disgrace,  or  removal  from  the 
ministry,  was  the  first  necessary  step  towards 
his  overthrow.  Whether  Anne  contemplated  the 
dilemma  into  which  her  resentment  was  plunging 
her  is  doubtful ;  the  Queen  throughout  her 
chequered  career  was  ever  ready  to  plot  and  to 
dissemble,  but  the  consequences  of  her  intrigues 
never  seem  to  have  aroused  her  solicitude. 

Madame  de  Chevreuse,  meantime,  that  arch  and 
daring  spirit,  so  full  of  resource  and  constancy,  had 
not  yet  returned  to  France  ;  but,  alarmed  at  the 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  101 

wrath  of  her  sovereign,  the  Duchess  had  wisely 
remained  at  Brussels,  on  a  visit  to  the  Arch- 
duchess Infanta  Isabel.  By  some  means  not  on 
record,  though  probably  by  a  letter  from  the 
Queen,  the  Duchess  was  put  au  courant  with  the 
proposed  intrigue,  and  entered  into  it  with 
ardour  and  with  her  accustomed  audacity. 
Through  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  therefore,  Anne 
caused  a  notification  to  be  made  to  the  Marshal 
d'Ornano,  the  ex-governor,  but  bosom  friend  of 
Monsieur,  "  that  it  would  gratify  her  much  if  he 
could  find  means  to  prevent  the  marriage  of  M. 
d'Orleans  with  Marie  de  Bourbon-Montpensier." 6 
'  I  acted  thus,  because  I  believed  that  this  mar- 
riage, favoured  by  the  Queen-mother,  was  against 
my  interests ;  because,  if  the  future  Madame  bore 
children  and  I  had  none,  she  would  be  more 
highly  considered  than  myself,"  6  is  Anne's  own 
declaration.  Amongst  the  most  devoted  admirers 
of  Madame  de  Chevreuse  was  Henry  de  Talley- 
rand, Prince  de  Chalais,7  master  of  the  wardrobe 
to  the  King  and  first  gentleman  to  Monsieur,  in 
whose  train  he  always  appeared.  Chalais,  there- 
fore, betrayed  by  the  dazzling  charms  of  this 
syren,  and  too  happy  to  supplant  Lord  Holland 
in  her  favour,  prepared  to  obey  her  behests. 

D'Ornano,  meanwhile,  having  declared  himself 
a  devoted  adherent  of  Queen  Anne,  did  all  he 
could  to  disgust  the  Duke  of  Orleans  with  his 
bride-elect.  ' '  If  you,  Monseigneur,  espouse  a  sub- 
ject of  the  King  your  brother,  you  will  yourself 
fall  into  greater  subjection  to  his  authority.  Your 


102  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1626 

fortune  and  lands  will  ever  remain  in  his  Majesty's 
power  ;  and  if  at  any  future  period  you  stand  in 
need  of  foreign  support  or  help,  to  not  one  poten- 
tate of  Europe  can  you  appeal  !  "  8  The  foreign 
alliance  to  which,  it  is  supposed,  d'Ornano  hinted, 
was  the  union  of  Monsieur  with  the  Infanta  Mar- 
guerite, sister  of  Anne,  once  the  betrothed  of  King 
Charles  I.  of  England  and  eventually  the  consort 
of  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  III.  This  alliance- 
failing  one  with  Anne  of  Austria  in  the  event  of 
the  death  of  the  King — was  highly  approved  by 
Monsieur ;  being,  as  he  said,  altogether  more 
august  and  profitable,  if  less  wealthy,  than  a 
marriage  with  Mademoiselle  de  Montpensier. 

This  grievance  of  his  compulsory  marriage 
being  well  engrafted  on  the  willing  mind  of  Gaston 
d'Orleans,  the  Marshal  d'Ornano  next  commented 
on  his  shameful  exclusion  from  the  privy  council ; 
a  disgrace  inflicted  by  the  parvenu  minister,  whose 
dismissal  was  necessary  to  vindicate  the  honour  of 
Monsieur.  The  Duke  declared  that  this  slight  was 
keenly  felt  by  himself,  and  that  he  was  deter- 
mined to  have  redress  or  to  withdraw  from  court. 
At  the  beginning  of  Easter  week,  1626,  the  King 
left  Paris  for  Fontainebleau,  accompanied  by  Mon- 
sieur and  by  the  Queen-mother.  Anne  likewise 
received  a  command  to  follow ;  and  as  her 
Majesty  loved  very  much  "  a  respirer  Vair  des 
bois,"  she  journeyed  thither  with  pleasure.  The 
day  following  the  arrival  of  the  court  at  Fontaine- 
bleau, Monsieur  opened  his  battery  by  informing 
King  Louis  "  that  it  was  a  reproach  and  shame  to 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  103 

him,  that  being  his  Majesty's  brother,  he  had  no 
share  or  influence  in  affairs  of  state."  A  sharp 
discussion  ensued,  during  which  Monsieur  took 
the  opportunity  peremptorily  to  decline  the  hand 
of  Marie  de  Montpensier,  adding,  "  that  the 
neglect  which  he  experienced  convinced  him  of  the 
wisdom  of  the  opinion  expressed  by  his  friends 
that  a  foreign  alliance  was  requisite  for  his  honour 
and  prosperity." 9  Louis  replied  soothingly,  "  that 
he  would  consider  the  request  and  make  answer 
in  a  few  days."  Richelieu,  meantime,  had  his  at- 
tention riveted  on  the  malcontents  ;  and  soon  he 
discovered  the  simmerings  of  their  resentment, 
and  fathomed  the  sullen  passiveness  of  Anne  of 
Austria.  From  her  Majesty  the  eyes  of  his  Emi- 
nence took  survey  of  the  position  of  the  Duchess  de 
Chevreuse  in  Brussels,  "  cettefemme  quifaisoit  plus 
de  mal  que  personne  ;  "  and  with  his  habitual 
discernment  Richelieu  divined  that  some  plot, 
hostile  to  the  existing  order  of  affairs  in  France,  was 
in  agitation.  Monsieur  meantime  stormed,  and 
despatched  d'Ornano,  the  bearer  of  his  complaints, 
to  the  villa  of  the  Cardinal  at  Fleury,  where  the 
prudent  prelate  had  deemed  himself  safer  than  to 
abide  at  Fontainebleau.  The  Marshal  obtained 
audience  of  the  minister,  who  received  Monsieur's 
message  without  surprise,  and  declared  himself 
"  the  humble  servant  of  M.  d'Orleans."  During  a 
promenade  made  by  d'Ornano  and  the  minister  in 
the  gardens  of  the  latter,  the  Marshal  was  seized 
with  cramp  in  the  leg  and  a  trembling  of  the 
limbs ; 10  ailments  which  afterwards  were  declared 


104  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1626 

to  be  sympathetic  with  the  ire  which  surged  in  the 
heart  of  his  Eminence.  The  following  day — as 
five  days  had  elapsed  since  the  Duke  petitioned 
the  King — Monsieur  sought  audience  of  his 
mother,  and  announced  his  resolve  to  leave  Fon- 
tainebleau,  adding  menaces  concerning  his  in- 
tended destination.  Marie,  alarmed,  soothed  her 
son,  and  promised  that,  as  on  the  morrow  a  privy 
council  was  to  sit,  his  wishes  should  be  gratified. 
From  this  point  it  is  difficult  to  follow  the  Queen- 
mother  in  her  dubious  course  ;  whether  or  no 
Richelieu  temporarily  resumed  his  old  power  over 
her  mind  by  his  concessions  relative  to  Monsieur, 
it  is  certain  that  the  acts  of  Marie  de'  Medici  again 
corresponded,  for  some  interval,  with  the  policy  of 
the  minister.  A  secret  council  was  holden  the  same 
evening  in  the  apartments  of  the  Queen-mother, 
at  which  the  King,  the  Cardinal  and  the  Chan- 
cellor d'Aligre  were  present.  It  was  resolved  to 
gratify  Monsieur,  but  to  arrest  so  pernicious  a 
counsellor  as  the  Marshal  d'Ornano.  The  intro- 
duction of  the  Duke  as  a  privy  councillor  was 
effected  on  the  morrow,  after  an  angry  tirade  from 
the  Marshal,  who  claimed,  but  was  refused,  the 
privilege  of  entering  the  council  chamber  with  his 
late  pupil,  and  standing  behind  his  chair,  as  the 
secretaries  of  state  attended  his  Majesty.  The 
same  night  d'Ornano  was  arrested  in  the  Chambre 
Ovale,  and  conveyed  to  the  chamber  which  had 
been  used  as  a  temporary  prison  for  the  unfor- 
tunate Marshal  de  Biron,  also  made  a  prisoner  at 
Fontainebleau.  The  tumult  in  the  palace  was 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  105 

great ;  and  Puylaurens,  one  of  the  mignons  of 
Monsieur,  rushed  to  the  chamber  of  the  Duke, 
crying  out  in  consternation  that  M.  d'Ornano 
was  arrested  !  The  Duke  sprang  from  his  bed  in 
frantic  passion,  and  was  hastily  arraying  himself, 
when  an  equerry  entered  and  summoned  him  to 
the  presence  of  the  King. 

Gaston  found  the  King  surrounded  by  the  chief 
noblemen  present  at  Fontainebleau,  and  looking 
cool  and  unmoved  as  he  might  have  been  if  dis- 
cussing the  odds  of  a  game  of  tennis.  In  the  apart- 
ment was  the  Queen-mother,  en  robe  de  chambre  ; 
also  the  Cardinal.  Louis  opened  the  conference 
by  calmly  saying,  "  that  to  his  very  great  regret 
he  had  been  compelled  to  order  the  arrest  of 
the  Marshal  d'Ornano,  who  had  treacherously  at- 
tempted to  create  brawls  between  his  brother  and 
himself."  The  eyes  of  Monsieur  sparkled  with 
fury.  "Your  Majesty  has  been  grossly  deceived; 
nobody  can  judge  of  the  innocence  of  M.  d'Ornano 
better  than  myself !  Never  has  he  given  me  advice 
counter  to  your  Majesty's  service.  The  authors  of 
this  evil  deed  are  abominable  and  wicked,  and 
never  will  I  pardon  them  until  I  have  reduced 
them  to  dust  under  my  feet."  The  Cardinal  here 
interposed,  and  gravely  demanded  whether  Mon- 
seigneur  referred  in  such  language  to  his  Majesty's 
ministers  ?  ic  I  speak  of  and  refer  to  the  accusers 
of  M.  d'Ornano.  See,  Messieurs,  whether  you  will 
dare  to  be  amongst  their  number  !  "  replied  Mon- 
sieur. The  King  here  assured  Monsieur  of  his 
affection,  saying,  "  that  he  regarded  him  as  a  son 


106  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1626 

and  an  only  brother,  and  would  soon  make  clear  to 
him  Us  tromperies  de  M.  le  Marechal."  "  The  very 
thing  I  beseech  your  Majesty  to  do,"  responded 
Gaston  undauntedly,  "  as  I  pray  you  to  give  me 
back  my  friend  promptly,  when  you  are  assured 
of  his  innocence  !  "  Monsieur  then  abruptly  left 
the  room.11  A  silence  of  some  moments  ensued. 
Richelieu  then  proposed  the  further  arrest  of  MM. 
de  Masargues  and  Dangeant,  the  brother-in-law 
and  the  secretary  of  the  prisoner ;  also  that 
Madame  la  Marechale  d'Ornaiio  should  be  arres- 
ted and  conducted  outside  the  gates  of  Paris,  and 
there  discharged  from  custody.12  His  Majesty  gave 
assent  to  these  measures,  and  then  dismissed  the 
high  personages  present,  complaining  of  fatigue. 
The  next  day  d'Ornano  was  conveyed  to  the 
fortress  of  Vincennes  under  a  strong  guard,  and 
confined  in  its  most  unwholesome  chamber,  which 
admitted  a  pestilential  malaria  from  the  moat  be- 
neath.13 The  friends  of  the  Marshal  asserted  that 
he  was  a  victim  to  the  King's  indecision  respecting 
Monsieur,  for  that  when  the  Duke  was  emanci- 
pated from  the  control  of  his  tutors  his  Majesty 
had  commanded  d'Ornano  to  repress  the  ardour 
of  Gas  ton's  suit  to  Mademoiselle  de  Montpensier. 
The  rage  of  Monsieur  was  not  assuaged  when  he 
learned  the  departure  of  the  Marshal  for  Vin- 
cennes ;  and  the  young  cavaliers  of  his  suite 
assiduously  inflamed  his  wrath,  especially  Chalais 
and  M.  de  Louvigny.  The  Duke  one  day  suddenly 
encountered  the  Chancellor  d'Aligre,  and  haugh- 
tily asked  him  whether  he  was  one  of  those  who 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  107 

had  counselled  the  iniquitous  arrest  of  M.  d'Or- 
nano  ?  Surprised  by  the  excitement  of  the  Duke's 
manner,  the  Chancellor  stammered  "  that  he  was 
as  much  astonished  as  his  royal  highness,  and  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  affair  " ;  an  answer  which 
was  punished  by  immediate  dismissal  from  office.14 
The  Duke  put  the  same  abrupt  question  to  Riche- 
lieu, who  boldly  responded  "  that  he  was  not 
intending  to  make  the  same  answer  as  M.  le  Chan- 
celier,  who,  as  well  as  himself,  had  advised  the 
King  to  effect  that  arrest,  after  hearing  his 
Majesty's  statements." 

As  moderation  and  apparent  disinterestedness 
were  assumed  by  Richelieu  at  the  commencement 
of  his  power,  he  immediately  petitioned  the  King 
to  suffer  him  to  withdraw  to  his  house  at  Fleury, 
as  he  found  that  he  had  irrevocably  offended  Mon- 
sieur. Without  waiting  for  the  royal  reply,  which 
Louis  never  gave  but  with  hesitation,  his  Eminence 
ordered  his  coach  and  quitted  Fontainebleau.15 

This  "  flight,"  as  it  was  termed  by  Monsieur  and 
by  the  turbulent  spirits  around  him,  raised  the 
confidence  of  the  conspirators  in  their  insane  pro- 
jects, and  confirmed  them  in  a  criminal  design 
they  harboured,  to  rid  themselves  of  the  ob- 
noxious minister  by  taking  his  life.  The  Count  de 
Soissons  promised  his  co-operation,  after  exacting 
a  solemn  declaration  from  Monsieur  that  he  re- 
linquished all  pretensions  to  the  hand  of  Marie  de 
Montpensier.  The  Duke  de  Vendome  and  the 
Grand  Prior,  his  brother,  flocked  to  the  standard 
of  Monsieur  on  this  supposed  triumph  of  his 


108  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1626 

policy  ;  while  frequent  communications  passed 
between  Chalais  and  Madame  de  Chevreuse. 
These  letters  were  submitted  to  Monsieur,  who 
showed  them  to  Queen  Anne.  Madame  de  Chev- 
reuse, meantime,  maintained  the  closest  relations 
with  the  Marquis  de  Lainez,  an  attache  of  the 
Spanish  legation  at  Brussels.  The  assassination  of 
Richelieu  was  daringly  discussed  by  these  plotters ; 
a  deed  to  be  followed  by  the  emancipation  of  M. 
d'Orleans,  the  liberation  of  the  Queen  from  her 
matrimonial  bondage,  and  possibly  by  the  com- 
pulsory abdication  of  Louis  XIII.  in  favour  of  his 
brother.  As  a  step  to  the  accomplishment  of  this 
great  project,  Chalais  advised  that  M.  le  Grand  - 
Prieur,16  "  qui  etait  ires  redoutable  et  habile,  ay  ant 
sur  tons  part  en  V  esprit  de  Monsieur"  should  with- 
out delay  repair  to  Havre,  and  win  over  his  uncle 
the  Due  de  Villars,  governor  of  that  important 
port,  to  the  cause  of  Gaston.  Up  to  this  point  all 
had  prospered  in  safety  and  secrecy  ;  the  retire- 
ment of  Richelieu  from  court,  however,  moved  the 
impatient  spirit  of  the  hostile  clique,  and  it  was 
determined  to  forestall  the  slow  progress  of  any 
negotiation  with  Spain  by  striking  an  immediate 
blow  at  the  life  of  the  Cardinal.  Nine  of  Monsieur's 
most  intimate  friends  held  council  three  days  after 
the  arrest  of  d'Ornano,  and  decided  the  matter 
under  the  presidency  of  the  Duke  ;  these  persons 
were  Chalais,  Soissons,  the  Marquis  de  la  Valette,17 
Puylaurens,  Bois  d'Annemets,  Louvigny,  Mar- 
sillac,  Vendome,  and  St.  Gery.  The  scheme  of  the 
assassins  was  simple  in  its  atrocity :  it  was 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  109 

planned  to  send  six  inferior  officers  of  the  house- 
hold of  Monsieur  to  Fleury,  the  country  house  of 
Richelieu,  where  the  latter  was  residing  alone  and 
comparatively  unattended,  at  three  o'clock  in  the 
morning  of  the  day  but  one  following.  These 
personages  were  to  rouse  the  household  of  his 
Eminence  by  clamorous  shouts  ;  when  admit- 
tance was  obtained,  which  was  to  be  demanded  in 
the  name  of  M.  d'Orleans,  who,  they  were  to  state, 
was  on  his  road  to  breakfast  at  Fleury,  they  were 
to  pick  a  quarrel  with  the  servants,  draw  their 
swords,  and  to  assassinate  the  Cardinal  in  the 
melee.18  The  Duke  was  then  to  put  himself  at  the 
head  of  the  malcontents,  and  act  as  circumstances 
might  dictate.  His  seditious  challenge  was  to  be 
for  the  Church,  the  liberty  of  the  princes  of  the 
blood,  the  annihilation  of  the  Huguenots,  the 
alliance  with  Spain,  and  the  rights  of  the  Queen. 
When  all  was  prepared,  and  nothing  but  the  actual 
blow  of  the  assassin  seemed  needed  to  effect  the 
longed-for  emancipation,  Chalais  failed  his  accom- 
plices. He  possessed  a  friend,  one  M.  de  Valencey, 
who  had  appeared  to  relish  the  designs  of  the  con- 
federates when  a  word  of  disaffection  had  been 
accidentally  dropped  in  his  presence,  but  who 
had  never  actually  declared  himself.  To  this  per- 
sonage Chalais  had  the  weakness  to  confide  the  plot 
on  the  eve  of  its  execution.  "  How,  Monsieur," 
exclaimed  Valencey  in  generous  indignation, 
"  so  audacious  and  abominable  a  plot  is  projected 
by  the  King's  servants,  to  slay  another  and  a 
cherished  servant  of  his  Majesty,  and  you  do  not 


110  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1626 

hasten  to  denounce  the  vile  conspiracy  !   You  will 
at    once    do   so,   Monsieur,    or  take  the   conse- 
quences of  my  own  immediate  revelation  of  the 
treachery  !  "        In    vain    Chalais    entreated    for 
silence  ;    but  Valencey  insisted  that  he  should  at 
once  accompany  him  to  Fleury,  and  warn  M.  le 
Cardinal  :   "  Do  it,  Monsieur,  in  your  own  words  : 
give  your  own  explanation — make  the  best  of  it ; 
but  go  I  must  to  his  Eminence  alone,  or  in  your 
company."    Chalais  in  despair  obeyed,   and  the 
two  repaired  to  Fleury  and  obtained  audience  of 
the  Cardinal.   Richelieu  listened  to  the  story  with 
an  aspect  of  pitying  compassion,  and  feigned  to 
believe  the  repeated  assertions  of  Chalais  that  he 
had  always  hated  the  foul  plot  and  had  resolved 
to  denounce  it.    His  apparent  belief,  and  gentle 
deprecation,  with  the  tears  he  plentifully  shed  on 
this  occasion,  quite  reassured  the  indiscreet  young 
cavalier,  who  hastened  from  Fleury  back  to  Fon- 
tainebleau,  hoping  to  prevent  the  departure  of 
Monsieur's  band  of  bravoes.   Valencey  meantime, 
after  receiving  the  cordial  thanks  of  the  Cardinal, 
was  directed  by  him  to  seek  instant  audience  of 
the  King  and  Queen-mother,  and  to  unfold  the 
plot.    It  was  between  eleven  and  midnight  when 
Valencey  reached  Fontainebleau  ;   but  access  was 
readily  obtained  to  their  Majesties  by  the  pass 
furnished  by  Richelieu.  Marie's  consternation  was 
intense  ;    while  Louis  summoned  du  Hallier  and 
M.  de  Vitry,  and  commanded  them  to  repair  to 
Fleury,  taking  thirty  archers  and  thirty  horse 
soldiers  to  guard  the  Cardinal,  whose  meekness  in 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  111 

remaining  at  his  house  after  being  warned  of  his 
peril  deeply  affected  their  Majesties.19  This  de- 
tachment met  Richelieu  at  dawn  on  his  way  to 
Fontainebleau.  The  Duke's  assassins  had  arrived 
during  the  night  at  Fleury,  knocked  up  the  house- 
hold as  had  been  arranged,  with  every  aggravation 
of  insolence  and  violence.  The  doors  of  the  man- 
sion, however,  to  their  surprise  flew  open  on  their 
mandate.  The  retainers  of  Richelieu  bowed  ob- 
sequiously before  the  avant  coureurs  of  so  august  a 
person  as  Monseigneur  ;  while  the  Cardinal  in 
person  expressed  his  sense  of  the  honour  done  him, 
"  so  much  so,  that  he  placed  the  chateau  at  the 
command  of  the  leader  of  the  company,  and  in- 
tended himself  to  set  out  and  escort  his  royal 
highness  to  Fleury."  While  Monsieur's  envoys 
were  meditating  on  the  purport  of  these  words,  the 
clever  Cardinal  gave  them  the  slip,  and  stepping 
into  his  coach,  which  he  had  caused  to  be  prepared, 
he  set  out  for  Fontainebleau.  Gaston  was  just 
rising  when  Richelieu  arrived ;  the  Cardinal  pro- 
ceeded straight  to  the  apartment  of  the  young 
prince,  and  mildly  reproached  him  for  not  giving 
him  warning  of  the  honour  he  intended  to  confer 
by  his  visit,  ending  by  placing  Fleury  at  his  com- 
mand. Taking  Monsieur's  shirt  from  the  trembling 
hands  of  M.  de  Chalais,  the  Cardinal  courteously 
handed  it  to  the  astonished  young  prince  and 
took  his  leave.20  The  incident  was  then  suffered  to 
drop.  Queen  Anne  and  Monsieur  were  filled  with 
amazement  at  the  failure  of  their  enterprise,  not 
knowing  from  what  quarter  the  Cardinal  had 


112  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1626 

obtained  his  information.  Chalais  kept  his  own 
counsel,  until  the  truth  was  forced  from  him  a  few 
weeks  later  by  the  address  of  Madame  de  Chev- 
reuse.  The  intrigue,  however,  received  only  a 
check  from  the  unexpected  denouement  at  Fleury. 
The  design  of  the  Cardinal's  assassination  was  still 
the  topic  of  the  correspondence  of  the  conspira- 
tors, amongst  whom  M.  de  Chalais,  despite  of  his 
recent  treachery,  became  the  recognised  organ  of 
approach  to  the  ear  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans.21 

Richelieu,  however,  held  a  clue.  Had  Chalais 
promptly  avowed  his  breach  of  faith  the  subtle 
intriguers  might  have  been  less  confident  and  more 
cautious.  The  first  step  in  the  counterplot  was 
skilful ;  his  Eminence  overwhelmed  Chalais  with 
attentions,  and,  as  an  eminent  mark  of  confi- 
dence, announced  his  intention  to  take  up  his 
abode  at  the  house  of  the  latter  at  Maison  Rouge 
when  the  court  removed  to  Blois.  He  then  blandly 
requested  as  a  personal  favour  from  the  King,  that 
Madame  de  Chevreuse  might  return  to  court,  as  he 
desired  to  merit  the  favour  and  approbation  of 
Queen  Anne.  M.  de  Vendome,  at  the  intercession 
of  the  Cardinal,  was  reassured,  and  bidden  by  his 
Majesty  to  bring  back  his  brother  and  join  the 
court  at  Blois,  when  their  grievances  should  be 
redressed.  M.  de  Soissons  received  an  unexpected 
communication  from  M.  le  Cardinal,  conveying 
the  information  that  his  Majesty  confided  to  him 
the  peace  of  the  capital  during  his  absence  in  the 
provinces,  and  directing  the  Count  on  no  pretext 
to  quit  Paris.22 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  113 

As  soon  as  the  Cardinal  was  settled  at  Maison 
Rouge,  he  summoned  his  friend  the  formidable 
Capuchin  Pere  Joseph,  and  relating  all  that  had 
recently  occurred,  asked  for  aid  to  thread  the 
labyrinth.23    "  It  is  at  Brussels  that  we  must  search 
out  the  intrigue ;   give  me  a  sure  man,  and  I  will 
answer  for  the  result !  "  exclaimed  Pere  Joseph. 
The   Cardinal  acquiesced  ;    selecting  the  young 
Count  de  Rochefort,  one  of  his  pages,  and  a  Rohan 
by  birth,  he  sent  him  to  Pere  Joseph,  with  orders 
to  obey  the  Capuchin  in  all  matters.    Rochefort 
was  conducted  to  the  Capuchin  monastery,  Rue 
St.  Honore,  and  was  there  taught  to  imitate  the 
deportment  and  the  rule  of  the  fathers.    When  the 
travesty  was  perfect,  Pere  Joseph  sent  him  on  foot 
to  Brussels,  wearing  the  habit  of  a  Capuchin  monk, 
and  furnished  with  a  letter  to  the  superior  of  the 
Order  in  Brussels,  who  had  promised  further  in- 
troductions. Rochefort  was  the  cousin  of  Madame 
de  Chevreuse  ;  he  was  gifted  with  the  energy  and 
spirit  of  his  race.     By  the  assumption  of  sanctity, 
and  by  the  secret  influence  of  Richelieu,  the  young 
Capuchin  soon  procured  an  introduction  to  Mar- 
quis de  Lainez.  To  this  nobleman  he  pretended  to 
confide  his  discontent  with  his  calling,  and  his 
hatred  of  France,  adding  that  his  desire  would 
be  to  enter  a  monastery  in  Spain.   So  cleverly  did 
he  at  length  insinuate  himself  into  the  confidence 
of   Lainez   that  the  latter  undertook  to  procure 
him  permission  to  drink  the  mineral  waters  at 
Forges,    which    Rochefort    stated    was    a    boon 
necessary  for  his  health,  though  unattainable,  on 


114  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1626 

account  of  the  dislike  with  which  he  was  regarded 
by  the  Provincial  of  the  Order  in  France.     The 
pass  was  obtained  at  the   request  of  the  Arch- 
duke, and  Rochefort  prepared  to  return  to  France, 
triumphant  in  the  possession  of  a  packet  of  papers, 
which  Lainez,  as  he  anticipated,  had  affection- 
ately requested  him  to  convey  thither,  and  deliver 
to  a  personage  who  would  await  him  at  Forges. 
A  courier  from  the  Cardinal  met  Rochefort  half 
way  between  Brussels  and  Forges,  to  whom  he 
delivered  the  important  packet.     Richelieu  had 
copies  made  on  the  spot  of  the  contents  of  the 
packet,  which  was  then  resealed  and  given  again 
to  Rochefort.    The  latter  continued  his  journey, 
and  arriving  at  Forges  found  a  person  who  gave 
the  name  and  address  of  La  Pierre,  advocate,  Rue 
Perdue,  Place  Maubert,  Paris,  who,  exhibiting  a 
letter  from  Lainez,  demanded  the  papers.    This 
person  was  followed  by  the  Cardinal's  spies  to 
Paris,  and  was  traced  with  his  papers  to  the  house 
of  the  Prince  de  Chalais.    On  his  return  home,  an 
agent  of  police  arrested  La  Pierre  under  pretext  of 
robbery  ;   his  person  was  then  searched,  and  the 
packet  being  missing,  was  at  once  known  to  have 
been  left  in  the  possession  of  M.  de  Chalais.     The 
copied  papers  seized  were  then  examined  by  the 
Cardinal,  who  found,  amongst  other  documents, 
a   long   letter   without   signature,    addressed   to 
Chalais,  in  which  not  only  was  his  own  assassina- 
tion spoken  of  as  un  fait  accompli,  but  the  writer 
went  on  to  discuss  casualties  which  might  attend 
the  death   or  deposition,   "of    the  most  august 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  115 

person  of  the  realm."  24  This  event  accomplished, 
the  marriage  of  Anne  of  Austria  with  King  Gaston 
was  assumed  as  a  future  fact  which  had  received 
her  Majesty's  own  assent,  and  that  of  the  Queen- 
mother,  and  which,  when  communicated  to 
Philip  IV.,  King  of  Spain,  had  also  obtained  his 
Catholic  Majesty's  approbation.  Mention  was 
made  also  of  a  letter  written  by  Anne  to  her 
brother,  in  which  she  had  intimated  her  consent 
to  and  approbation  of  all  the  designs  of  the  con- 
spirators, and  moreover,  that  she  had  despatched 
a  special  courier  to  Madrid,  to  convey  this  epistle 
to  King  Philip.  Furnished  with  such  a  detail  of 
this  "  infernal  project,"  Richelieu  triumphed — for 
the  most  august  heads  of  France  must  incline 
reverently  before  the  power  won  by  this  knowledge. 
The  letters  written  by  Chalais  in  return  were  in- 
tercepted, and  by  these  the  Cardinal  came  by  the 
further  information,  that  the  Spanish  cabinet 
agreed  to  the  design  of  the  conspirators,  but  de- 
clined to  take  a  part  in  the  plot  until  some  notable 
success  had  been  attained.  The  intercepted  cor- 
respondence was  at  once  laid  before  the  King  by 
his  minister.  With  a  cry  of  anguish,  the  unhappy 
King  read,  and  bewailed  the  cruel  destiny  which 
arrayed  against  him  his  nearest  kinsmen.  He 
insisted,  nevertheless,  on  the  immediate  arrest  of 
all  concerned  in  the  plot.  Richelieu  combated  this 
desire ;  he  wished  to  envelop  the  plotters  and  to 
allow  them  no  avenue  of  escape,  before  the  final 
blow  was  struck.  Towards  his  wife  the  bitterest 
resentment  rankled  in  the  heart  of  Louis,  never 


116  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1626 

more  to  be  effaced.  The  apologists  of  Anne  of 
Austria  aver  that  the  Cardinal  enveloped  her  in 
this  conspiracy,  which  in  reality  was  aimed  only 
at  his  own  overthrow,  on  purpose  to  neutralise  her 
power  and  to  render  the  criminal  wife  the  help- 
less foe.  They  aver  that  no  one  but  the  King  and 
Richelieu  saw  the  letter  addressed  to  Chalais, 
which  was  afterwards  said  to  be  destroyed  ;  and 
they  deny  that  Anne  ever  wrote  to  her  brother  in 
approval  of  the  plot  as  directed  against  the  person 
and  the  throne  of  Louis  XIII.25  It  is  not,  however, 
denied  that  Anne  consented  to  espouse  Gaston 
d'Orleans  and  was  looking  forward  to  the  death 
of  her  husband  as  a  fact  of  speedy  accomplish- 
ment. The  archives  of  Simancas  furnish  proof 
positive  of  her  assent  and  of  her  knowledge  of 
the  negotiation  then  proceeding  for  her  future 
union  with  M.  d'Orleans.  Moreover,  the  arrests 
and  sentences  which  by  and  by  followed,  smiting 
some  of  the  noblest  princes  of  the  land,  must  have 
moved  the  nation  with  strong  indignation,  if 
inflicted  to  vindicate  a  cruel  fraud ;  at  the  instiga- 
tion, likewise,  of  a  minister  new  to  the  people,  and 
whose  power  was  not  then  cemented  by  public 
confidence  or  awe. 

On  the  6th  of  June  the  court  removed  to  Blois, 
the  Cardinal  still  remaining  at  Maison  Rouge.  On 
the  12th  the  Duke  de  Vendome  and  his  brother 
the  Grand  Prior  arrived,  and  on  the  night  of  the 
14th  of  the  same  month  the  princes  were  both 
arrested  in  their  beds  by  Du  Hallier,  captain  of  the 
body-guard,  and  committed  close  prisoners  to  the 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  117 

castle  of  Amboise.  The  reason  assigned  by  his 
Majesty  for  the  arrest  of  his  illegitimate  brothers 
was,  that  they  excited  the  people  to  hatred  of  his 
government,  and  to  contempt  of  his  person,  be- 
sides traitorously  assuming  an  attitude  hostile  to 
M.  de  Richelieu.26  Meantime,  Madame  de  Chev- 
reuse  returned  to  France,  and  joined  her  royal 
mistress  at  Blois,  resuming  her  empire  over  the 
mind  of  the  Queen,  and  more  than  her  past  in- 
fluence with  M.  de  Chalais.  Monsieur  also  arrived 
at  Blois,  fearing  not  to  stand  over  the  mine  he  was 
preparing  to  explode.  Here  the  expediency  of 
gaining  over  some  of  the  principal  governors  of 
provinces,  and  important  frontier  towns,  was 
suggested  to  Monsieur  by  Bois  d'Annemets  and 
Chalais.  A  certain  Abbe  d'Aubasine  presented 
himself  at  Blois  to  pay  his  respects  to  the  King, 
and  happening  to  state  in  confidence  to  Chalais 
that  the  Due  d'Epernon,  Governor  of  the  Angou- 
mois  and  of  the  Pays  des  Trois  Eveches,  was 
disaffected  and  a  partisan  of  Monsieur,  it  was 
determined  that  his  royal  highness  should  write  to 
the  Duke  and  make  certain  propositions.  Chalais 
had  some  difficulty  in  persuading  the  Duke  to  this 
step,  as  Monsieur  always  showed  an  intense  aver- 
sion to  attach  his  signature  to  any  document.  In 
this  instance  he  suffered  himself  to  be  overper- 
suaded,  and  whilst  he  was  engaged  in  the  con- 
coction of  the  epistle,  M.  de  Marcheville  suddenly 
entered  the  apartment.  Monsieur  being  startled 
in  the  very  act  of  doing  violence  to  his  inclination, 
turned  pale,  and  seizing  the  paper,  stuffed  it  into 


118  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1626 

the  pocket  of  his  haut  de  chausses.  This  Marche- 
ville,  though  one  of  the  mignons,  had  carefully 
avoided  giving  countenance  to  the  designs  of  the 
malcontents,  and  feigned  to  be  ignorant  that  his 
royal  master  had  secrets.27  The  sudden  resignation 
of  M.  de  Marcheville  on  the  following  day,  and 
leave  of  absence  being  solicited  by  another  of  the 
duke's  chamberlains,  M.  d'Audilly,  might  have 
warned  Gaston  and  his  friends  that  prudence 
and  caution  were  advisable.  Chalais,  however, 
continued  to  repair  in  the  dead  of  the  night  to  the 
chamber  of  Monsieur,  and  there  amongst  other 
evil  counsels  he  induced  the  infatuated  Prince  to 
follow  up  his  letter  to  the  Due  d'Epernon  by  an- 
other to  M.  de  la  Valette,  the  duke's  son  and  his 
lieutenant  at  Metz,  on  whom  Gaston  was  told 
that  he  had  claims,  as  Madame  de  la  Valette  was 
the  illegitimate  daughter  of  Henri  Quatre.  The 
Due  d'Epernon,  grateful  perhaps  for  the  cle- 
mency shown  by  Louis  after  the  troubles  excited 
by  the  flight  of  Marie  de'  Medici  from  Blois,  sent 
Monsieur's  letter  straight  to  the  King.  The  young 
Marquis  de  la  Valette,  a  few  days  later,  also  replied 
through  M.  de  Louvigny,  "  that  he  was  the  humble 
servant  of  Monsieur,  and  would  be  happy  to  serve 
him ;  nevertheless,  in  an  affair  of  such  importance 
as  to  deliver  up  to  his  royal  highness  his  Majesty's 
fortress  of  Metz,  he  must  first  consult  his  father 
and  chief ,  Monsieur  le  Due  d'Epernon."28  Riche- 
lieu, at  this  juncture,  having  secured  his  proofs  of 
the  treasonable  negotiations  pending,  and  having 
skilfully  assembled  his  foes  at  Blois,  presented 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  119 

himself  before  the  King  and  denounced  the  trai- 
tors. He  also  informed  his  Majesty  that  the  Count 
de  Soissons  had  insolently  prepared  measures  to 
accomplish  the  abduction  of  Mademoiselle  de 
Montpensier,  who  was  living  in  Paris  at  the  Hotel 
Guise  ;  and  that  M.  d'Orleans  and  Queen  Anne 
were  privy  to  the  intended  outrage.  Louis  became 
violently  agitated  ;  but  after  poring  some  time 
over  the  documents  submitted  by  his  minister,  he 
ordered  the  latter  to  proceed  with  the  utmost 
rigour  to  unmask  the  traitors,  and  to  confound 
their  devices,  pledging  his  royal  word  to  be 
guided  by  the  counsels  of  his  Eminence.  Richelieu 
then  advised  his  master  to  proceed  forthwith  to 
the  city  of  Nantes — a  visit  already  jotted  down  in 
the  royal  programme  of  travel  before  the  return  of 
Louis  to  the  capital.  He  next  despatched  Roche- 
fort  to  Paris,  the  bearer  of  an  order  commanding 
Maclame  de  Guise  and  her  daughter  Mademoiselle 
de  Montpensier,  to  give  his  Majesty  rendezvous  at 
Nantes — thus  defeating  any  enterprise  contem- 
plated by  the  Count  de  Soissons.  Monsieur  and 
his  friends  now  commenced  to  feel  the  prickings 
of  distrust ;  private  warnings  harassed  them,  in 
which  it  was  reported  that  Goulas,  the  Duke's 
secretary,  and  MM.  de  Marcheville  and  d'Andilly 
had  been  observed  stealthily  creeping  from  the 
abode  of  M.  le  Cardinal.  Moreover,  their  friends  in 
Brussels  seemed  to  lose  heart  at  the  enterprise  ; 
while  the  Marquis  de  Mirabel  maintained  an  omi- 
nous silence  respecting  Richelieu,  and  mentioned 
even  the  word  "  submission."  The  Queen  likewise 


120  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1626 

was  observed  to  weep  in  secret,  and  little  inter- 
course existed  between  the  Queen-mother  and 
Anne  ;  while  the  King  studiously  avoided,  as 
far  as  possible,  any  acknowledgment  of  the  fact 
that  the  partner  of  his  throne  inhabited  Blois.  A 
further  augury  of  coming  evil  was  descried  in  the 
visit  paid  by  the  Prince  de  Conde  to  the  Cardinal 
at  Limours — an  honour  never  before  conferred. 

The  court,  meantime,  commenced  its  progress, 
and  made  temporary  sojourn  at  Tours,  Saumur, 
and  Amiens.  At  Saumur  a  quarrel  happened  be- 
tween M.  de  Louvigny  and  the  Count  de  Candale. 
Chalais,  who  was  of  the  party,  took  the  side  of 
Candale  ;  when  M.  de  Louvigny,  beside  himself 
with  rage,  reproached  Chalais  with  his  treasonable 
intelligence  in  the  presence  of  the  Due  d'Elboeuf. 
Louvigny  having  thus  committed  himself,  sought 
audience  of  the  King  on  the  morrow,  and  confessed 
the  overture  which  he  had  made  to  M.  d'Epernon 
and  his  son,  on  behalf  of  Monsieur.  Louis  listened 
coldly  ;  dismissed  Louvigny,  but  commanded  his 
arrest  before  the  lapse  of  three  hours.  Under  the 
searching  scrutiny  of  Richelieu,  Louvigny  con- 
firmed his  previous  confession,  and  owned  to  be 
privy  to  the  plot  for  the  assassination  of  his  Emi- 
nence ;  moreover  adding  that  Chalais  meditated 
the  death  of  the  King,  which  he  intended  to 
accomplish  when,  as  master  of  the  wardrobe,  he 
adjusted  his  Majesty's  ruff,  by  scratching  him 
slightly  on  the  neck  with  a  poisoned  pin.  A 
warrant  thereupon  was  at  once  despatched  for 
the  arrest  of  M.  de  Chalais,  who  was  seized  and 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  121 

carried  to  Nantes,  as  he  was  stepping  on  board  the 
barge  in  which  Monsieur  was  travelling,  at  a  place 
just  below  Amiens.  The  Cardinal  now  held  every 
clue  to  the  projects  of  his  enemies.  Chalais  lay  in 
prison ;  Madame  de  Chevreuse  and  her  royal 
mistress  trembled  as  the  dark  tribulation  ap- 
proached ;  Marie  de'  Medici,  who  had  been  accused 
in  some  of  the  papers  intercepted  of  approving 
the  marriage  of  the  supposed  widow  of  Louis  XIII. 
with  Monsieur,  and  anxious  to  vindicate  herself  in 
the  opinion  of  her  son,  was  nervously  complai. 
sant ;  Mademoiselle  de  Montpensier,  smitten  with 
awe  at  finding  herself  involved  in  a  state  plot,  was 
humble  and  obedient ;  d'Ornano  and  the  two 
brothers  de  Vendome  lay  in  prison ;  Conde,  that 
irascible  and  touchy  personage,  so  haughtily 
patronising,  had  been  compelled,  lest  he  should  be 
suspected  of  collusion  in  the  plot,  to  seek  the  good 
will  of  his  Eminence  at  Limours,  and  even  to 
sooth  any  probable  irritation  by  speaking  of  an 
alliance  as  possible  between  the  heir  of  the  Condes 
and  la  petite  Clemence  de  Maille  Breze,  niece  of 
Richelieu.29  As  for  Monsieur,  it  was  the  policy  of 
Richelieu  to  unmask  and  to  humble  him,  but  to 
cast  him  prostrate  at  the  royal  feet  eventually  on 
easy  terms.  Expiation  by  death,  by  torture,  by 
banishment,  by  humiliations  unparalleled,  was 
nevertheless  to  be  exacted  from  the  miserable 
tools  and  dupes  of  his  royal  highness's  ambition 
and  duplicity.  Above  all,  Anne  of  Austria  was  for 
evermore  to  be  reduced  to  a  position  of  abject 
dependence  on  the  King  and  his  minister,  and 


122  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1626 

discredited  to  a  degree  that  her  favour  or  disfavour 
became  alike  indifferent ;  while  the  fact  that  her 
Majesty  was  the  eldest  daughter  of  Spain,  then 
considered  to  be  the  most  potent  monarchy  of  the 
universe,  increased  rather  than  diminished  the 
triumph  of  the  Cardinal.  Monsieur,  therefore, 
during  the  journey  between  Tours  and  Nantes,  was 
scolded,  cajoled,  caressed  and  frightened.  He  was 
mysteriously  exhorted,  both  by  the  Cardinal  and 
the  Queen- mother,  to  be  on  his  guard  ;  that  the 
gentlemen  of  his  household  were  in  bad  odour  with 
the  King  ;  and  that  some  political  catastrophe 
was  at  hand.  M.  de  Coigneux,  who  though  in 
favour  with  his  royal  highness  had  not  partici- 
pated in  the  cabal,  was  chosen  by  liouis  as  his 
medium  of  communication  with  his  brother, 
while  the  Cardinal  prepared  more  potent  seduc- 
tion for  the  weak  brain  of  Monsieur  from  the  lips 
of  his  trusty  Capuchin,  Pere  Joseph,  who  was 
summoned  to  Nantes  by  express. 

A  commission,  composed  of  the  new  Lord 
Keeper  Marillac,  of  the  presidents  Cusse  and  de 
Bry,  and  of  the  King's  private  secretary  Beau- 
clerc,  of  Fouquet,  Machault,  and  de  Criqueville, 
Masters  of  Requests,  and  of  six  members  of  the 
Parliament  of  Bretagne,  was  empowered  to  try 
the  unhappy  Chalais,  and  to  investigate  the 
alleged  plot  to  its  most  secret  ramifications.30 
Monsieur,  though  outwardly  free,  was  warned  by 
the  Queen-mother  not  to  venture  without  the  city, 
under  pain  of  arrest.  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  like- 
wise, perceived  herself  to  be  under  surveillance  ; 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  123 

while  the  young  Queen  cowered  under  the  dis- 
pleasure of  her  lord,  and  while  weeping  over  her 
forlorn  condition,  was  repeatedly  heard  to  utter 
the  undignified  wail,  "  that  M.  le  Cardinal  wanted 
to  send  her  back  to  Spain,  in  order  to  marry  the 
King  to  la  veuve  Combalet."  Richelieu,  meantime, 
proceeded  to  unravel  the  plot,  with  the  utmost 
parade  of  moderation  and  attention  to  the  forms 
of  ancient  procedure.  It  was  the  first  essay  of  the 
power  of  the  minister,  and  a  foretaste  of  the 
judicial  arraignments  by  special  commission  which 
eventually  made  every  disloyal  heart  quake. 
Certain  members  of  the  commission  were  ap- 
pointed to  interrogate  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  Mon- 
sieur was  previously  admonished  to  make  candid 
and  ample  revelations,  while  Pere  Joseph  "  as- 
sured Monsieur  that  if  he  confessed  everything 
demanded  from  him  he  should  receive  a  pardon 
and  even  a  recompense."  Letters  were  first 
shown  to  the  young  Prince  from  the  envoys 
of  France  at  certain  small  German  courts,  and 
also  one  from  the  ambassador  in  Vienna,  warning 
the  King  that  a  conspiracy  existed,  and  that  its 
details  were  not  unknown  to  Monsieur,  to  her 
Majesty  the  Queen  consort,  and  to  certain  per- 
sonages mentioned ;  its  objects  being  first  to 
assassinate  the  Cardinal  de  Richelieu,  and  sub- 
sequently to  dethrone  the  King  for  incapacity, 
mental  and  physical,  and  to  marry  Queen  Anne 
to  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  The  plot  was  to  be  sup- 
ported by  the  influence  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham 
over  the  English  cabinet.  Monsieur  shuddered 


124  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1626 

at  his  peril,  and  clung  to  the  protection  of  Riche- 
lieu as  his  refuge  in  the  terrible  investigations 
pending.  The  morning  of  the  llth  of  August, 
therefore,  found  Monsieur  ready  and  fluent ;  he 
made  and  signed  a  declaration,  of  which  the 
following  is  an  abstract : — Istly  :  That  it  was  true 
M.  le  Comte  de  Soissons  was  in  his  confidence,  and 
diligently  reported  to  him  affairs  brought  before 
the  privy  council ;  2ndly  :  That  Chalais  was  em- 
ployed as  their  amanuensis  and  messenger  ;  that 
it  was  true  the  latter  had  advised  him  to  slay  M.  le 
Cardinal,  to  seize  the  fortress  of  Havre,  and  to  de- 
mand for  M.  de  Coeuvres  the  government  of  Pont 
de  1'Arche,  which  strong  fort  they  coveted  in  order 
to  protect  their  flight  from  Paris  to  Havre  ;  that 
Chalais  had  counselled  him  to  propitiate  and  to 
enter  into  secret  relations  with  the  Huguenot 
chieftains  ;  that  the  said  Chalais  had  instructed 
and  recommended  one  Louvigny  to  journey  to 
Metz  to  invite  and  gain  over  the  Marquis  de  la 
Valette  to  his  (Monsieur's)  interests  ;  3rdly  :  That 
M.  de  Chalais  had  told,  and  sworn  to  him  (Mon- 
sieur) that  the  King  had  encamped  10,000  men 
in  the  vicinity  of  Nantes,  in  order,  as  Chalais 
concluded,  to  compel  him  to  retire  to  Nancy  or 
to  Brussels."  31  This  cowardly  avowal  formed  the 
nucleus  of  the  charge  of  treason  against  M.  de 
Chalais.  The  letters  of  the  Duchess  de  Chev- 
reuse,32  of  the  Duke  d'Epernon  and  of  M.  de  la 
Valette  were  given  in  as  evidence  ;  also  certain 
letters  which  had  been  intercepted,  from  Joannes, 
valet  to  M.  de  Chalais,  addressed  to  Martin,  his 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  125 

brother.    Lastly  :    Richelieu  and  le  Pere  Joseph 
produced  their  charge  against  Monsieur,  Queen 
Anne,  and  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  by   showing 
copies  of  the  letter  brought  into  France  by  M.  de 
Rochefort,  addressed  to  Chalais,  with  the  replies 
returned  by  that  miserable  young  cavalier.     On 
the  same  day,  the  llth  of  August,  the  Commis- 
sioners met  in  the  refectory  of  the  monastery  of 
the  Franciscans  at  Nantes,  and  proceeded  to  the 
discharge  of  their  preliminary  duties,  previous  to 
commanding  the  presence  of  the  criminal  before 
their  tribunal.     Chalais  during  this  interval  had 
remained  in  a  condition  of  pitiable  despair.    Ma- 
dame de  Chevreuse  alone,  with  noble  generosity, 
sought  to  soothe  his  trouble,  and  addressed  to  the 
poor  captive  a  comforting  note,  which  she  caused 
to  be  sewed  within  the  plait  of  a  starched  ruff  sent 
to  Chalais,  by  his  request,  to  wear  when  he  ap- 
peared before  his  judges.     Such  was  the  panic 
occasioned  by  the  sudden  arrests  and  the  mysteri- 
ousness  of  the  hidden  causes  of  inquiry,  that  the 
agent  employed  by  Madame  de  Chevreuse  proved 
a  traitor,  and  carried  her  note  to  the  Cardinal, 
who  caused  the  writing  to  be  copied  and  produced 
it  on  the  following  day  against  the  Duchess. 

It  was  determined  by  the  High  Court  to  issue 
orders  of  arrest  against  the  Duchess  de  Chevreuse, 
the  Count  de  Soissons,  the  Due  d'Epernon,  and 
his  son,  1'Abbe  Aubasine,  M.  de  Louvigny,  and 
certain  mignons  of  Monsieur — to  wit,  MM.  de  Bois 
d'Annemets,  Puylaurens,  St.  Ge*ry,  Marsillac,  le 
Meilleraye  and  de  Mouay — nevertheless,  that 


126  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1626 

such  warrants  should  first  be  authenticated  by  the 
sign-manual  of  the  King.33  Triumphant  in  the 
possession  of  these  documents,34  Richelieu  laid 
them  before  the  King  at  a  council  specially  sum- 
moned on  the  morrow.  Louis  desired  to  hear  some 
of  the  witnesses  ;  the  council  was  therefore  ad- 
journed till  after  dinner  of  the  same  day.  Invita- 
tions were  issued  to  the  Presidents  Cusse  and  de 
Bry  to  attend  ;  and  before  this  assemblage  Louis 
resolved,  by  the  advice  of  his  minister,  to  summon 
Queen  Anne  and  Madame  de  Chevreuse.  The  Duke 
de  Bellegarde,  Louvigny,  the  Duke  d'Elboeuf, 
le  Pere  Joseph,  the  Count  de  Rochefort  and  the 
Marquis  d'Efnat  were  first  heard.  The  intercepted 
correspondence  was  read  over  by  the  secretary 
Beauclerc,  in  the  presence  of  his  Majesty,  who 
reclined  in  a  fauteuil,  with  a  gloomy  scowl  upon 
his  countenance.  Marie  de'  Medici  presently 
entered,  and  seated  herself  by  Richelieu  ;  in  so 
doing  her  Majesty  whispered  a  word  in  his  ear, 
which  his  Eminence  noticed  by  a  slight  inclination 
of  the  head.  At  the  command  of  the  King  the 
folding  doors  opposite  were  opened,  and  Anne  of 
Austria  appeared  on  the  threshold,  unattended, 
save  by  an  usher  and  by  one  half-scared  lady. 
Anne  dismissed  her  attendant,  and  then  advanced 
and  took  a  seat  at  the  bottom  of  the  table 
indicated  by  the  Cardinal,  as  the  King  neither 
rose  nor  took  the  smallest  notice  of  her  presence. 
The  interrogatory  which  followed  unfortunately 
never  transpired  :  that  it  was  severe  and  uncom- 
promising, the  tears  shed  by  the  Queen  and  its 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  127 

after  effect  on  her  health  and  temper  testify. 
Anne  seems  steadily  to  have  denied  the  allegations 
against  her  ;  unfortunately,  however,  her  Majesty 
had  previously  given  peremptory  contradiction  to 
undoubted  facts  well  known  to  her  royal  husband 
and  to  his  minister,  from  terror  at  the  conse- 
quences of  her  indiscretion.  The  letter  written  by 
Madame  de  Chevreuse  to  Chalais,  and  placed  in 
the  Queen's  hands,  must  have  taxed  her  fortitude, 
for  there  now  remains  little  doubt  that  Anne  had 
tampered  in  the  schemes  of  these  foolish  plotters 
to  a  degree  which  for  ever  bereft  her  of  the  regard 
of  her  husband,  who  emphatically  affirmed  his 
belief  in  her  culpability.  When  questioned  con- 
cerning her  speculations  on  the  King's  intended 
deposition,  and  her  design  to  espouse  Monsieur, 
Anne  replied,  "  that  she  should  have  gained  there- 
by too  small  a  stake  to  render  it  even  probable 
that  she  had  blackened  her  conscience  by  the 
imagination  of  such  a  crime  !  "  35  "  Her  Majesty 
thereupon,  with  tears,  bitterly  upbraided  the 
Queen-mother  for  the  persecutions  and  indignities 
heaped  upon  her  since  her  arrival  in  France." 
No  minute  of  this  council  was  preserved.  Anne's 
reply,  relative  to  M.  d'Orleans,  alone,  of  all  her 
answers  to  the  various  charges,  was  suffered  to 
transpire. 

When  the  Queen  retired,  Madame  de  Chevreuse 
was  summoned  before  the  council.  The  Duchess 
entered,  sustained  by  a  consciousness  of  wit, 
beauty,  and  of  aptness  of  speech  and  retort.  She 
was  subjected  by  the  King  himself  to  a  long  and 


128  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1626 

humiliating  interrogatory  ;  dismissed  and  placed 
under  the  surveillance  of  the  captain  of  the  body- 
guard. M.  de  Louvigny  was  next  introduced,  to 
make  further  revelations  relative  to  the  malignity 
of  the  treason  of  M.  de  Chalais.  The  latter,  besides 
his  avowed  intent  to  kill  Richelieu,  and  to  depose 
the  King,  was  accused  of  regicidal  designs  by  de 
Louvigny,  who,  a  few  weeks  previously,  was  con- 
sidered to  be  the  intimate  friend  of  the  unhappy 
prisoner.  Chalais,  who  was  master  of  the  ward- 
robe, meditated  the  murder  of  the  King,  according 
to  the  statement  of  Louvigny,  by  steeping  the 
shirts  worn  by  his  Majesty  in  a  subtle  poison  ; 
intending  to  accelerate  the  action  of  the  venom  by 
scratching  the  King  on  the  nape  of  the  neck  with  a 
poisoned  pin,  while  adjusting  his  ruff.  "This 
Chalais,"  says  the  Abbe  d'Artigny,36  "  was  of  a 
temper  so  malicious  and  spiteful,  that  when  he 
was  attiring  his  Majesty  he  made  faces  behind  the 
King's  back  ;  also,  when  in  prison,  he  could  not 
hold  himself  from  speaking  evil  things  of  the  King, 
and  even  to  offend  him  deeply  by  letters  which  he 
presumed  to  write.  Louis  XIII.  could  not  refrain, 
therefore,  from  one  day  exclaiming,  '  This  man 
has  truly  a  malignant  and  churlish  temper  !  ' 

On  the  18th  of  August,  Chalais  was  led  before 
his  judges,  after  having  been  subjected  to  three 
searching  interrogatories.  His  condemnation  was 
unanimously  voted,  the  prisoner  appealing  against 
his  sentence,  and  denying  the  charges  alleged. 
The  decree  condemned  Chalais  to  decapitation, 
after  suffering  the  torture  of  les  brodequins, 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  129 

and  to  the  pains  of  degradation  and  the  confis- 
cation of  his  estates.  No  sooner  was  the  unfor- 
tunate man  conducted  back  to  his  prison,  than 
he  was  again  beset  by  the  emissaries  of  Richelieu, 
seeking,  by  any  promises,  to  extort  confession  ; 
and,  especially,  to  wring  from  the  unwilling  lips  of 
the  prisoner  full  details  respecting  the  liaison 
existing  between  Anne  of  Austria  and  her  brother- 
in-law.  For  long  Chalais  resolutely  insisted  on  the 
innocence  of  the  Queen,  stating  although  it  was 
true  that  for  a  period  of  seventeen  days  the  death 
of  the  King  and  his  minister  had  been  discussed — 
yet  that  after  the  arrest  of  MM.  de  Vendome,  and 
after  the  failure  of  the  conspiracy  to  kill  Richelieu 
at  Fleury,  he  had  tampered  with  the  conspirators 
at  the  command  of  the  minister  only  to  discover 
their  progress  and  designs.  Vanquished  at  length 
by  the  subtle  Pere  Joseph,37  Chalais  made  other 
avowals  :  he  stated  that  Queen  Anne,  Monsieur, 
and  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  were  implicated  in  the 
conspiracy  ;  that  the  Queen-mother  herself  was 
so  far  committed,  that  she  had  acknowledged  if 
the  King  died  a  wise  policy  would  direct  the 
acceptance  by  Monsieur  of  the  hand  of  his 
brother's  richly  dowered  widow,  on  assuming  the 
crown  of  France  ;  that  the  death  of  the  Cardinal 
de  Richelieu  had  been  decided  upon,  to  be  accom- 
plished as  opportunity  occurred  ;  that  it  was  a 
fact  that  the  Queen  had  communicated  the  details 
of  the  conspiracy  to  her  kindred  in  Spain,  and  had 
received  the  approbation  of  Philip  IV.  her 
brother.  Transported  with  his  success,  the  wily 


130  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1626 

Capuchin  entered  his  patron's  presence,  and  ten- 
dered the  admissions  which  placed  the  highest 
personages  of  the  realm  at  the  mercy  of  the 
Cardinal.  Richelieu,  it  is  said,  repaired  privately 
the  same  night  to  the  dungeon  of  the  prisoner,  and 
promised  him  life  and  ultimate  pardon,  provided 
that  he  would  repeat  his  confession  in  the  hearing 
of  his  guards,  or  reveal  every  incident  in  a  private 
interview  with  the  King. 

The  Duke  of  Orleans,  during  these  proceedings, 
maintained  a  most  undignified  attitude  ;  avoided 
by  the  courtiers — uncertain  whether  he  would 
long  be  tolerated  by  the  King  ;  clinging  to  the 
wily  Capuchin  Joseph  ;  and  creeping  warily  to  the 
apartments  of  the  Queen-mother,  who  scarcely 
dared  speak  to  her  son,  to  learn  the  attitude  of 
affairs.  The  young  cavaliers  of  his  suite  fled  from 
Nantes.  Puylaurens  and  Bois  d'Annemets  alone 
mustered  courage  to  face  the  storm.  Le  Coigneux, 
meantime,  ascertained  that  Monsieur  could  free 
himself  from  the  effects  of  his  misconduct  only  by 
consenting  to  immediate  marriage  with  Mademoi- 
selle de  Montpensier.  The  Duke,  thereupon,  ven- 
tured to  propose  stipulations,  one  of  which  was 
the  pardon  of  M.  de  Chalais,  but  was  met  by  the 
crushing  intimation  that  the  criminal  had  made 
confession,  and  had  deeply  implicated  both  Mon- 
sieur and  Queen  Anne,  and  therefore  that  the 
Duke  must  accept  with  gratitude  the  will  of  the 
King,  or  take  the  consequences.  Monsieur  then 
alleged  certain  reasons,  which  would  prevent 
his  immediate  espousals ;  nevertheless,  on  the 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  131 

morrow  he  suddenly  visited  Marie  de'  Medici  and 
assented  to  his  marriage,  provided  that  the 
Marshal  d'Ornano  and  Chalais  were  liberated  and 
that  certain  pecuniary  concessions  38  were  granted 
—all  which  negotiations  he  committed  to  her 
care  and  to  that  of  M.  le  Coigneux.  The  Duke's 
submission  was  well  timed  ;  the  irritated  spirit  of 
Louis  XIII.  brooked  not  trifling,  and  his  Majesty 
conceived  that  his  honour  demanded  that  the 
immediate  union  of  his  brother  to  Marie  de 
Montpensier  should  stifle  and  refute  the  reports 
current  respecting  Monsieur's  liaison  with  Anne 
of  Austria.  Certain  reforms  were  likewise  com- 
menced in  the  household  of  the  Duke,  on  the 
authority  of  the  King  :  three  of  his  chamberlains 
were  summarily  dismissed,  and  the  Due  de 
Bellegarde  was  placed  at  the  head  of  his  establish- 
ment.39 Louis,  meanwhile,  offered  to  his  brother 
oblivion  of  the  past  on  condition  of  his  marriage 
with  Marie  de  Montpensier.40  Upon  that  event,  his 
Majesty  proposed  to  put  Monsieur  into  possession 
of  his  appanage,  the  duchies  de  Chartres  and 
d'Orleans  and  the  county  of  Blois  ;  to  settle  upon 
him  lands  to  the  amount  of  100,000  livres  an- 
nually ;  with  a  nett  revenue  of  760,000  livres  for 
the  expenses  of  his  household.41  Le  Pere  Joseph 
undertook  to  render  Monsieur  satisfied  with  this 
munificent  offer  ;  a  few  arguments,  a  little  depre- 
cation, and  the  transparent  assurance  "that  after 
Monsieur's  reconciliation  with  the  King  he  would 
be  in  a  better  condition  to  intercede  for  the 
prisoner  and  the  rest  of  the  accused,"  prevailed. 


132  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1626 

The  ceremony  of  the  affiancing  was  performed 
August  20th,  in  the  apartment  of  the  Queen- 
mother  by  the  Cardinal  de  Richelieu,  and  the 
pair  were  married  at  midnight.  The  ceremony  was 
performed  with  the  pomp  befitting  the  occasion 
and  the  publicity  which  King  Louis  desired.  The 
marriage  contract  was  signed  at  five  p.m.  on  a 
table  standing  on  a  platform  of  state.  The  King 
sat  under  a  canopy,  supported  by  the  Queen- 
mother  ;  opposite  sat  Queen  Anne,  with  an 
aspect  pale  and  discomposed,  having  on  her  right 
the  young  bride.  At  the  table  stood  Richelieu,  at 
the  head  of  a  numerous  assemblage  of  bishops. 
The  apartment  was  filled  with  a  brilliant  court, 
including  Bellegarde,  d'Elbceuf,  Bassompierre, 
Marsillac,  the  Duchesses  de  Rohan,  d'Halluin,  de 
Guise,  de  Bellegarde  and  others.  The  King  had 
commanded  that  no  order  of  precedence  should  be 
observed,  and  that  the  ladies  should  take  place 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  haul  dais,  as  they  arrived.  A 
scramble  for  precedence,  nevertheless,  occurred 
between  the  Duchesses  d'Halluin  and  de  Rohan— 
the  latter  lady  being  the  strong-minded  and  reso- 
lute daughter  of  the  Duke  de  Sully — during  which 
the  illustrious  ladies  so  far  forgot  decorum  as  to 
pinch  each  other  in  their  efforts  not  to  lose  the 
terrain,  that  each  declared  the  other  wished  to 
usurp.42  "  The  royal  pair  were  affianced,  and  at 
midnight  espoused.  Never  was  there  before  seen 
so  sad  a  ceremony.  Madame  was  dressed  in  a 
robe  of  white  satin,  adorned  with  her  own  superb 
pearls  and  with  those  belonging  to  the  Queen. 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  133 

We  had  neither  violins,  nor  music  of  any  kind. 
Monsieur  had  not  even  a  new  habit.  Furniture 
was  borrowed  to  decorate  the  bridal  chamber. 
Few  private  persons  have  been  married  with  such 
scanty  pomp.  The  King  came  to  the  coucher  of 
Monsieur  and  handed  him  his  shirt,  and  the 
Queen-mother  was  present  at  the  toilette  of 
Madame.  When  every  one  had  retired  a  laugh- 
able incident  occurred.  A  little  lap-dog  was 
accidentally  shut  up  in  the  chamber  of  the  newly- 
married  pair,  which  obliged  Madame  de  Guise, 
who  occupied  an  adjacent  apartment,  to  rise  and 
hunt  the  miserable  animal,  whose  yelps  added  to 
the  ridicule  of  this  fine  marriage."  43 

The  marriage  concluded,44  Monsieur  ventured  to 
insist  on  the  hopes  inspired  by  M.  le  Cardinal, 
that  mercy  might  be  shown  to  the  accused.  Cha- 
lais  also  loudly  claimed  the  immunity  so  per- 
fidiously promised  by  the  Cardinal  on  condition 
of  his  confession.  The  sentence  pronounced  on  the 
unfortunate  young  man  was,  nevertheless,  con- 
firmed by  the  King,  who  mitigated  only  the 
rigour  of  the  penalty  by  forbidding  that  torture 
should  be  employed  before  execution.  His 
Majesty  was  pleased,  moreover,  to  annul  the 
attainder  of  that  branch  of  the  house  of  Talley- 
rand from  which  Chalais  sprang.45  The  sentence 
was  appointed  to  be  carried  out  three  days  after 
the  celebration  of  Monsieur's  marriage  ;  mean- 
time, the  fate  of  the  minor  delinquents  was  pro- 
nounced. Madame  de  Chevreuse  received  sentence 
of  banishment  from  court,  and  was  conducted  by 


134  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1626 

an  exempt  of  the  royal  guards  to  her  husband's 
castle  of  Dampierre,  where  she  was  consigned  to 
strict  surveillance.  The  King  for  some  days  in- 
sisted on  her  imprisonment  in  the  Bastille,  and 
was  deterred  only  from  this  severity  by  the  inter- 
cession of  Richelieu,  who  was  a  great  admirer  of 
the  spirited  Duchess,  and  by  the  entreaties  of  M. 
de  Chevreuse,  who  undertook  to  answer  for  her 
submission.  "  The  Duchess  was  transported  with 
fury,"  writes  Richelieu  ;  "  she  went  so  far  as  to 
assert  that  we  knew  her  not  when  we  concluded 
that  she  had  only  wit,  coquetry,  and  vanity  ; 
nevertheless,  she  would  soon  show  us  that  she  was 
good  for  something  else,  for  there  was  nothing 
that  she  would  not  suffer  to  be  avenged,  and  no 
indignity  to  which  she  would  not  joyfully  submit 
to  compass  such." 46  Before  her  departure  for 
Dampierre  the  Duchess  had  petitioned  to  be 
allowed  to  retire  to  England,  where  her  beauty 
and  vivacity  had  rendered  her  popular.47  Madame 
de  Chevreuse,  however,  who  hated  the  melancholy 
solitudes  of  Dampierre,  continued  to  agitate  so 
effectually  that,  after  an  interval  of  six  months* 
she  obtained  permission  to  visit  her  husband's 
kindred  of  Lorraine,  at  Nancy.  The  Count  de 
Soissons,  advised  of  the  accusations  preferred 
against  him,  propitiated  the  wrath  of  his  royal 
master  by  resigning  his  post  as  governor  of  Paris, 
and  by  quitting  the  realm,  a  self -condemned  exile  : 
the  warrant  of  arrest  was  thereupon  cancelled. 
The  post  of  governor  of  Bretagne  was  taken  from 
the  Due  de  Vendome,  who  continued  for  some 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  135 

time  a  captive  at  Vincennes.  Conde  also  bowed 
before  the  policy  of  the  Cardinal,  and  did  not 
venture  to  present  himself  for  a  long  period  at 
court  for  his  supposed  connivance  in  the  plot  at 
Fleury .  Sundry  minor  awards  were  allotted  to  the 
inferior  agents  of  the  conspiracy  ;  fines,  imprison- 
ments, and  banishments  warned  the  valetaille  of 
the  great  lords  that  the  formidable  ruler  of  France 
took  cognizance  also  of  their  derelictions,  as  well  as 
of  the  more  heinous  offences  of  their  masters. 

The  most  illustrious  offender  still  remained  to 
be  visited  with  a  public  manifestation  of  royal 
wrath.     The  condition  of  the  young  Queen  was 
pitiable.  The  King  refused  to  hold  communication 
with   her,   and   she   was   forbidden    to    see    the 
Duchess  de  Chevreuse    or   to  converse  with  M. 
d'Orleans.     Marie  de'  Medici,  sheltered  only  by 
Richelieu  from  the  indignation  of  her  son  for  her 
semi-adherence  to  the  intrigues  under  investiga- 
tion, dared  not  afford  even  a  semblance  of  pro- 
tection or  countenance  to  the  Queen.  On  the  27th 
of  August  an  order  was  issued,  signed  by  Louis 
and   countersigned   by   his   minister,    forbidding 
entree  to  the  Queen's  saloons  and  cabinets  to  the 
noblemen  and  gentlemen  in  waiting,  or  to  the 
courtiers  of  the  Louvre,  unless  they  paid  their 
respects  to  her  Majesty  in  the  King's  presence, 
and  entered  her  apartments  and  departed  there- 
from in  his  suite.   A  restriction  more  humiliating, 
and   subversive   of   the   courtly   splendours   and 
deference  enjoyed  by  her  predecessors  queens  of 
France,    could   not  have   been  inflicted.     Anne 


136  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1626 

likewise  received  the  imperious  commands  of  her 
royal  husband  never  to  grant  a  private  audience 
without  first  advertising  Queen  Marie  or  the  Car- 
dinal, and  naming  the  personage  whom  she  was 
about  to  receive  and  the  object  of  the  interview.48 
Correspondence  with  Madame  de  Chevreuse  was 
strictly  forbidden,  as  also  with  Madame  de  la 
Valette.  The  severity  of  this  punishment,  how- 
ever, did  not  subdue  the  proud  heart  of  the  Queen. 
Neglected  by  her  husband,  she  persistently  turned 
for  sympathy  towards  her  own  kindred  of  Spain, 
whose  counsels  aggravated  her  position ;  for  the 
King,  her  brother,  never  effectually  interfered  to 
ameliorate  her  position,  or  to  intercede  in  her 
behalf. 

The  Duke  of  Orleans  continued  to  make  un- 
ceasing efforts  to  procure  a  commutation  of  the 
sentence  pronounced  on  Chalais,  but  to  no  pur- 
pose. Early  on  the  morning  following  his 
brother's  marriage,  the  King  quitted  Nantes  for 
Paris,  being  preceded  by  the  Queens,  Anne  and 
Marie.  It  was  thought  that  his  Majesty's  sudden 
journey  was  to  avoid  further  solicitations  on  the 
part  of  Monsieur.  The  Duke,  nevertheless,  con- 
tinued his  intercession,  and  implored  the  Car- 
dinal to  stay  the  execution  until  he  could  rejoin 
the  King  his  brother.  His  Eminence  replied, 
"  that  he  had  no  power  to  grant  the  request  of  his 
Royal  Highness."  The  same  answer  Richelieu  re- 
turned to  the  mother 49  of  the  unfortunate  Chalais, 
who  on  her  knees  implored  mercy  for  her  misguided 
son,  on  the  plea  that  Chalais  had  previously 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  137 

saved  the  Cardinal's  life,  by  confessing  the  plot 
to  assassinate  him  at  his  chateau  de  Fleury. 
It  must,  nevertheless,  be  owned  that  Louis  acted 
with  clemency  towards  the  guilty  contrivers  of  a 
plot  so  aggravated ;  for  to  assert  that  such 
existed  only  in  the  scheming  imagination  of  the 
Cardinal  de  Richelieu,  is  utterly  to  disregard  the 
evidence  which  has  descended  to  these  days.  That 
many  documents  were  suppressed,  as  damaging  to 
the  honour  of  the  crown  and  to  the  reputation  of 
Queen  Anne,  is  not  surprising ;  neither  can  it 
excite  wonder  that  King  Louis  commanded  that 
no  minutes  of  the  privy  council  before  which  his 
Queen  was  arraigned  should  be  preserved  and 
registered.  "  She  wished  for  my  death,  and 
coveted  another  husband  during  my  lifetime  !  5! 
was  often  the  bitter  remark  of  Louis  XIII.  when 
any  one  pleaded  the  cause  of  the  Queen  ;  and  such 
remained  his  Majesty's  settled  conviction  on  his 
death-bed.  The  Duke  of  Orleans,  the  Count  de 
Soissons,  the  Duke  d'Epernon  and  M.  de  la  Va- 
lette,  the  Duchess  de  Chevreuse  and  her  potent 
kindred  of  Rohan,  were  not  likely  to  have  ac- 
cepted the  odium  of  such  a  conspiracy  without 
protest  if,  in  fact,  the  whole  affair  had  been  a 
device  trumped  up  by  Richelieu  to  rivet  his  power. 
Philip  IV.  of  Spain  remained  silent,  and  never 
denied,  through  his  ambassador  or  otherwise,  the 
reception  of  the  letter  stated  to  have  been  written 
by  the  Queen.  The  Archduchess-Infanta  Isabel, 
moreover,  never  repudiated  the  assertion  that  the 
intrigue  was  discussed  and  matured  in  Brussels, 


138  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1626 

her  own  capital ;  which  so  good  and  conscien- 
tious a  princess  would  have  done  if  possible  in 
aid  of  her  niece  Queen  Anne,  oppressed  under  so 
grave  a  charge  of  domestic  and  state  treason.  The 
fact,  however,  which  seems  amply  to  prove  the 
truth  of  the  conspiracy  and  of  the  charges  re- 
specting the  Queen  is,  that  three  years  later, 
Anne,  of  her  own  accord,  proposed  a  renewed 
discussion  of  the  policy  of  her  alliance  with  M. 
d'Orleans,  after  the  then  expected  death  of  Louis 
XIII.  The  health  of  the  King  was  precarious, 
and  the  result  of  his  repeated  attacks  of  illness  so 
uncertain  under  the  rude  medical  treatment  of  the 
day,  that  the  expectation  of  his  death  repeatedly 
acted  as  a  snare  to  lure  the  malcontents  to  pre- 
mature revelation  of  their  designs. 

M.  de  Chalais  suffered  on  the  twenty-sixth  day 
of  August.50  Before  his  execution  he  made  recan- 
tation of  all  his  avowals,  and  adhered  only  to  the 
statement  "  that  for  seventeen  days  only,  before 
his  interview  with  M.  le  Cardinal  at  Fleury,  he 
had  meditated  the  death  of  the  Cardinal  and  the 
deposition  of  Louis  XIII."  The  interference  of  his 
friends,  however,  served  to  prolong  his  agony.  In 
the  hope  that  the  prayers  of  M.  d'Orleans  might 
eventually  prevail,  and  therefore  that  the  gain  of 
a  few  days  might  be  life  to  Chalais,  they  bribed 
and  carried  off  the  public  executioner  of  Nantes. 
The  morning  appointed  for  the  execution  dawned, 
and  no  headsman  appeared.  By  order  of  the  Car- 
dinal, the  execution  was  delayed  until  six  in  the 
evening,  when  two  prisoners  under  condemnation 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  139 

of  death  taken  from  the  common  jail  under- 
took to  perform  the  task,  on  receiving  a  pardon 
for  their  services.  These  unskilful  executioners 
mangled  the  poor  prisoner  in  the  most  shocking 
manner,  and  succeeded  in  despatching  him  only 
after  thirty-five  strokes  of  the  axe.51  The  body  of 
the  unfortunate  Chalais  was  given  to  his  mother, 
who  caused  it  to  be  interred  before  the  high 
altar  of  the  Church  of  the  Franciscans  of 
Nantes. 

When  all  was  over,  M.  de  Louvigny,  the  original 
denouncer  of  Chalais,  was  arrested  and  com- 
mitted to  close  prison  at  the  suit  of  Monsieur, 
for  having  accused  the  latter  falsely,  maliciously, 
and  disloyally  ;  attributing  to  the  brother  of  the 
King  high  crimes  which  had  no  foundation,  and 
which,  for  the  honour  of  the  crown,  needed  to 
be  atoned  for  and  retracted.  Having  pardoned 
Monsieur  for  his  late  and  principal  share  in  the 
conspiracy  for  which  Chalais  suffered,  Louis 
XIII.  and  his  minister  required  justification  for 
their  clemency,  and  a  plausible  statement  which 
might  clear  the  reputation  of  the  heir-presump- 
tive of  France. 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  THREE 

1  Joseph  Leclerc  de  Tremblay,  Capucin. 

8  Anne  had  a  great  aversion  to  roses,  and  fainted  on  inhaling  their 

perfume. 

3  The    Count    de  Soissons    and    the  Duke  de    Bellegarde  inscribed 
themselves  of  the  faction  of  Monsieur.     The  princes  of  Venddme  were 
the  sons  of  Henri  Quatre  by  Gabrielle  d'Estrees. 

4  Consort  of  Charles    VIII.,    and    subsequently  of    Louis  XII.,  by 
whom  the  queen  had  two  daughters — Claude,  heiress  of  Bretagne,  who 


140  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1626 

married   Francis   I.,  King  of  France  ;   and  Renee,  married  to  Duke 

Ercole  I.,  of  Ferrara. 

5  Mem.  de  Motteville,  t.  i.  p.  27. 

«  Ibid. 

7  Henri  de  Talleyrand-Perigord,  Prince  de  Chalais,  grandson  of  the 
famous  Marshal  Blaise  de  Montluc.     He  was  master  of  the  wardrobe 
to  the  King,  and  one  of  the  lords  in  waiting  on  Monsieur.     Chalais 
had  married  Jeanne  de  Castille,  daughter  of  the  financier  Jeannin  de 
Castille,  and  widow  of  the  Count  de  Chancy.     "  Madame  de  Chalais 
est  une  belle  personne.     Elle  s'aime  tellement  qu'elle  s'evanouit  si 
elle  vient  seulement  a  souhaiter  quelque  chose  qu'elle  ne  puisse  avoir." 

8  Mem.  d'un  Favori  de  Monseigneur  le  Due  d'Orleans.     M.  de  Bois 
d'Annemets  was  the  favourite,  and  the  writer  of  the  memoirs  ;  which 
therefore  possess  the  value  of  having  been  written  by  an  eye-witness 
of  the  events  which  they  record. 

9  Mem.    d'un  Favori. — Vie    du    Pere    Joseph,   Capucin  nomme  au 
cardinalat,  contenant  1'Histoire  Anecdote  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu. 
A.  St.  Jean  de  Maurienne,  chez  Gaspard  Butler.     1704. 

10  "  II  luy  arriva  un  accident  digne  de  remarque,  ayant  ete  saisy,  en 
se  promenant  dans  le  jardin  du  Cardinal,  d'un  tremblement  si  furieux 
dans  une  jambe  et  une  cuisse,  qu'il  pensa  tomber  de  son  haut." — 
Mem.  d'un  Favori. — Archives  Curieuses,  t.  3. 

11  MS.  Bibl.  Imp.  Beth.  9162,  fol.  48. 

12  "  Madame  d'Ornano  fut  menee  par  un  enseigne  des  gardes  nomme 
Fouguerolles  a  Gentilly." — Mem.  d'un  Favori  du  Due  d'Orleans. 

13  Ibid. 

14  Bassompierre,  Journal  de  ma  Vie,  ann.  1626.     "  Les  dames  de  la 
cour,"  writes  the  gallant  Marshal,  "  etoient  fort  melees  dans  ces  intri- 
gues ;    les  unes  en  haine  de  la  maison  de  Guise,  qu'elles  voyoient 
agrandir  par  la  prochaine  alliance  de  Monsieur ;   les  autres  en  haine 
de  Mademoiselle  de  Montpensier  ;  et  les  autres  pour  1'interet  du  mariage 
de  Monsieur." 

15  Journal  de  ma  Vie,  Bassompierre. 

18  Alexandre  de  Vendome,  Prior  of  St.  John's,  youngest  son  of 
Henri  IV.  and  Gabrielle  d'Estrees,  Chevalier  de  Vendome.  "  M.  le 
Grand-Prieur  professait  une  inimitie  publique  centre  Richelieu,  qu'il 
accusait  de  detourner  les  graces  quo  le  Roi  voulait  verser  sur  sa  maison  ; 
il  se  vantait  d'etre  le  seul  Mardochee  qui  ne  flechissait  pas  le  genou 
devant  ce  superbe  Aman." 

17  Son  of  the  Duke  d'Epernon,  and  husband  of  Gabrielle  de  Balzac- 
Verneuil,  daughter  of  Henri  IV.  and  Madame  de  Verneuil. 

18  Bassompierre. — Mem.    d'un    Favori    de    M.  le  Due    d'Orleans. — 
Mem.  Anecdotes,  &c.,  Louis  XIII.,  t.  4. — Le  Vassor,  Hist,  de  Louis  XIII. 

19  Bassompierre,  Journal  de  ma  Vie,  ann.  1626.     Bassompierre  was 
in  waiting  at  Fontainebleau  while  the  events  occurred  which  he  relates. 

20  Mem,    de   Richelieu, — Bassompierre, — The   duke,  to   conceal  his 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  141 

design,  and  to  account  for  an  early  departure  from  the  palace  on  the 
morning  fixed  for  the  execution  of  the  plot,  had  organised  a  hunting 
expedition.  "  Monsieur,"  said  Richelieu  significantly,  on  taking  leave, 
"  vous  ne  vous  etes  par  leve  assez  matin  ;  vous  ne  trouverez  plus, 
la  bete  au  gite  !  " 

21  Chalais  promit  d'etre    fidele    a    1'avenir ;    et    leur    donnait  cette 
libre  reconnoissance  de  sa  faute,  qu'il  leur  faisoit  pour  marque  de 
sincerite." 

22  Bassompierre  ;  ibid.     Vie  du  Prince  de  Chalais,  Henri  de  Talley- 
rand.    Galerie  des  Personnages  Illustres  de  la  cour  de  France. 

23  Vie  du  Pere  Joseph.     Memoires  d'un  Favori  de  Monsieur.  Archives 
Curieuses. 

24  Vie  du  Pere  Joseph  Leclerc  de  Tremblay. 

25  No  apologies  which  have  since  been  made  for  Anne  of  Austria  can 
efface  the  undoubted  fact  that  Louis  XIII.  believed  her  to  be  guilty  ; 
besides,  why  was  the  Queen  subjected  to  persecution  and  surveillance, 
if  no  evidence  attested  her  connivance  in  the  projects  of  Chalais  and 
other  conspirators  ? 

26  Relation  de  tout  qui  s'est  passe  a  1'emprisonnement  de  M.  le  Due 
de  Venddme,  et  M.  le  Grand-Prieur  son  Frere,  au  Chateau  de  Blois. — 
Archives  Curieuses,  t.  3,  2eme  serie. 

27  M6m.   d'un  Favori  de  M.  le  Due  d'Orleans. — Archives  Curieuses, 
t.  3. 

28  Relation   de  tout   ce   qui   s'est  passe  au  Proces  de  Chalais,  1626. 
Aubery,  Mem.  pour  servir  a  1'Histoire  du  Cardinal  Due  de  Richelieu, 
t.  1.     Cologne,  1667. 

29  Nicole  du  Plessis  de  Richelieu,  sister  of  the  Cardinal  de  Richelieu, 
married  Urban  Marquis  de  Breze,  subsequently  Marshal  of  France. 
She  had  two  children,  the  Princess  de  Conde,  and  Armand  de  Breze, 
Duke  de  Fronsac,  co-heir  of  the  Cardinal  with  his  cousin  de  Pont- 
courlay,  also  nephew  of  the  Cardinal.     Madame  de  Breze  died  insane. 
For  many  years  previous  to  her  death  she  laboured  under  the  delusion 
that  she  was  made  of  glass,  and  shrieked  if  approached. 

30  Relation  de  tout  ce  qui  s'est  pass6  au  Proces  de  Chalais. — Aubery, 
Mem.  pour  servir  a  1'Histoire  du  Cardinal  Due  de  Richelieu,  t.  1.     The 
proceeding  of  the  Cardinal  caused  great   murmurings.     Chalais,  it 
was  asserted,  ought  to  have  been  tried  before  a  Parliament  of  the 
realm,  and  not  by  a  tribunal  of  judges  nominated  by  his  accusers.     The 
act  of  the  minister  was  stigmatised  as  "  un  precede  inique."     "  Les 
amis  du  cardinal  repondirent  qu'il  avait  pris  ce  biais  pour  menager 
1'honneur  des  families." 

31  Relation  de  tout  ce  qui  s'est  passe  au  Proces  de  Chalais. — Vie  du 
P.  Joseph  de  Tremblay. — Le  Vassor,  Hist,  de  Louis  XIII. 

32  These  letters  were  found  in  a  casket  at  Maison  Rouge,  the  country 
house  of  Chalais  ;  they  were  chiefly  love  epistles — "  Mais  il  se  trouva 
des  choses  peu  respect  ueuses  pour  Louis  XIII.,  que  ces  amants  railloien 


142  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1626 

BUT  sa  froideur,  et  sur  sea  autres  defauts  naturels." — Galerie  des  Per- 

eonnages  Ilhistres  de  la  Cour  de  France,  t.  4.     Lyon,  1806. 

33  Relation  de  tout  ce  qui  s'est  passe  au  Proces  de  M.  de  Chalais. — 

Aubery,  Mem.  poor  servir  a  1'Histoire  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu,  t.  1. 

— Mem.  d'un  Favori  de  M.  le  Doc  d'Orleans, 

M  "Richelieu    assura    le  Nonce    Spada  que    Chalais  avait  engag£ 

Gaston  a  des  eclats  qui  auroient  du  devenir  tres  prejudiciables  a  la 

paix  dn  royaume,  comme  de  quitter  la  cour,  de  se  retirer  a  La  Rochelle, 

et  de  soulever  ks  Huguenots." — Galerie  des  Personnages  Elustres  de 

la  Cour  de  France. 

35  "  Le  Roy  fit  venir  la  Reine  au  conseil,  ou  il  lui  reprocha  qu'elle 
avoit  conspire  centre  sa  vie  pour  avoir  un  autre  man.     La  Reine,  a 
qui  rinnocence  donna  des  forces,  outree  de  douleur  de  cette  accusation, 
lui  park  avec  fermete,  et  lui  dit,  a  ce  que  j'ai  scu  par  elle-meme,  qu'elle 
auroit  trop  peu  gagne  au  change  pour  vouloir  se  niorcir  d'un  crime 
pour  un  petit  interet." — Motteville,  t.  i.,  p.  28.     Madame  de  Motteville 
always  believes  the  statements  offered  to  her  by  Anne  of  Austria  with 
implicit  faith,  deeming  her  Majesty  immaculate, 

36  Hist,  du  Critique  et  de  la  Litterature,  t.  6,  p.  219. 

w  "Le  Capucin  I'assura,  de  la  part  du  Cardinal,  que  s'il  avouait 
tout  ce  qu'on  lui  demanderoit,  il  aurait  sa  grace  ;  et  sur  la  parole  d'un 
religieux  dont  la  reputation,  n'avoit  pont  etc  attaquee,  cet  accuse 
declara  plus  qu'il  ne  savoit  pour  certain  des  mecontents." — Vie  du  Pere 
Joseph,  Capucin. 

38  Mem.  d'un  Favori  de  M.  le  Due  d'Orleans. 

39  Journal  de  ma  Vie. — Bassompierre,  ann.  162S. 

40  Richelieu,  it  is  said,  caused  Monsieur's  horoscope  to   be   drawn 
before  his  marriage,  to  ascertain  whether  his  royal  highness,  or  his 
posterity,  were  likely  to  succeed  to  the  crown  of  France.     The  answer 
of  the  oracle  was  "  Imperium  non  gustabit  in  sternum." 

41  Mem.  d'un  Favori  de  M.  le  Due  d'Orleans. — Vie  du  Pere  Joseph. 

42  Benediction  Nuptiale  de  Monseigneur  le  Due  d'Orleans,  Frere  de 
Louis  XUL,  et  de  Marie  de  Montpensier. — Godefroy,  Grand  Cerem.  de 
France,  t.  2. 

43  Mem.  d'un  Favori  de  M.  le  Due  d'Orleans. 

44  "  Chalais  apprit  ce  manage  par  le  bruit  de  canon.     II  ne  dit  mot, 
et  attend  tristement  le  sort  que  cet  evenement  lui  annonce.     On 
1'avoit  mis  en  cachot." — Galerie  des  Personnages  lllustres,  t.  4. 

45  Relation  de  tout  ce  qui  s'est  passe  au  Proces  de  M.  de  Chalais. — 
Aubery,  t,  1.     One  chronicler,  an  eye-witness  of  the  execution,  states 
that  Chalais  said  on  the  scaffold :  "  Ce  n'est  pas  sur  I'esperance  qu'on 
m'a  donne  de  ma  grace  que  j'ai  avoue,  mais  parceque  la  conviction 
etait  entiere." 

44  Cousin,  Vie  de  Madame  de   Chevreuse. — Mem.  du  Cardinal  de 

Richelieu,  t.  3. 

47  "  Madame  de   Chevreuse    fit    confesser    (aux    dames   Anslaises) 


1626]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  143 

que  toutes  leurs  beaut  es  n'etoient  rien  au  prix  de  la  sienne." — Mem. 
d'un  Favori  du  M.  le  Due  d'Orleans. 

48  Mem.  de  la  Rochefoucauld,  t.  1. — Dreux  du  Radier,  Vie  d'Anne 
d'Autriche. — Motteville,  t.  1. — The  latter  insists  that  the  "  persecu- 
tions "  which  the  Queen  experienced  were  not  inflicted  for  any  fault 
of  her  own,  "  Mais  les  premiers  marques  de  Inflection  du  Cardinal  de 
Richelieu  furent  les  persecutions  qu'il  lui  fit." — Griff et,  Hist,  de  Louis 
XIIL,  t.  1. 

49  Fran9oise  de  Montluc,  daughter  of  Blaise  de  Montluc,  Marshal  of 
France. 

50  Relation    du    Proces    de    Chalais. — Aubery,  Mem.  pour  servir  a 
1'Histoire  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu,  t.  1.     "  H  n?a  rien  dit  a  tout 
cela  [son  arret],  qu'il  resignait  son  ame  a  Dieu,  et  son  corps  au  Roy. 
Chalais  est  mort  dans  la  plus  grande  resolution  qui  ait  jamais  ete 
veue.     II  a  dit  dans  la  chapelle :    '  Ne  suis-je  pas  bien  malheureux 
d'avoir  desservy  le  meilleur  prince  qui  soit  au  monde  ?  '  " — Deux 
Lettres  touchant  la  Mort  de  M.  de  Chalais,  de  Nantes,  ce   26  Aout 
1626,  a  7  heures  du  soir. — Aubery,  t.  1. 

61  "  On  a  tirez  deux  hommes  destinez  au  gibets  des  prisons  de  cette 
ville,  dont  Tun  a  fait  1'executeur,  et  1'autre  lui  a  assiste  poor  lui  servir. 
Mais  £a  a  ete  avec  si  peu  d'adresse,  que,  outre  les  deux  premiers  coups 
d'une  epee  de  Suisse,  qu'on  a  achetee  sur  le  champ,  il  lui  en  a  donne 
trente-quatre  d'une  doloire  dont  se  servent  les  tonneliers ;  et  a 
ete  contraint  de  le  retourner  de  1'autre  c6t4  pour  Tachever  de  couper, 
le  patient  criant  jusqu'au  vingtieme  coup — '  Jesus,  Maria,  et  Regina 
Cceli !  '  " — Extrait  de  Deux  Lettres  touchant  la  Mort  de  M.  de  Chalais. 
Aubery,  Mem.  pour  servir  a  rHistoire  de  M.  le  Cardinal  de  Richelieu. 


CHAPTER  IV 

1626-1630 

ANNE   OF   AUSTRIA   AND   MARIE    DE5    MEDICI 

ON  her  arrival  in  Paris,  Anne  earnestly  petitioned 
to  be  allowed  to  retire  to  St.  Germain.  She  was 
afflicted  with  a  constant  nervous  tremor,  and 
suffered  at  intervals  from  such  prostration  of 
strength  as  to  create  serious  alarm.  The  mental 
anxiety  which  she  had  undergone  had  shaken  her 
health,  and  in  her  solitude  and  depression  Anne 
lamented  her  separation  from  Madame  de  Chev- 
reuse.  Peril  and  disgrace,  however,  unfortunately 
brought  not  to  the  Queen's  mind  a  juster  ap- 
preciation of  the  responsibilities  and  dignity  of 
her  position.  She  took  no  step  on  her  return  to 
the  Louvre  to  reconcile  herself  with  her  husband  ; 
she  treated  Richelieu  in  public  with  negligent 
indifference,  and  made  no  attempt  to  conceal  the 
greatness  of  her  indignation  against  Marie  de' 
Medici  for  "  the  shameful  abandonment  "  which 
she  had  experienced  at  Nantes.  Festivities  were 
rare  events  at  the  Louvre,  and  the  recent  ordi- 
nance, forbidding  entree  to  the  Queen's  cabinets 
and  saloon  to  the  gentlemen  of  the  court,  had  con- 
demned Anne  to  virtual  solitude.  The  Queen  was 
surrounded  by  domestic  spies,  who  made  reports 
to  Richelieu  ;  for  the  latter  watched  with  jealous 
vigilance  her  correspondence  in  England  and 

144 


ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  145 

Spain.      Aware   of  this  surveillance,  the  Queen, 
nevertheless,  continued  to  correspond  with  the 
Duchess  de  Chevreuse,  with  her  kindred  in  Spain, 
with  the  Infanta  at  Brussels,  with  the  Queen  of 
England,  and  even  with  the  Duke  of  Buckingham 
through  the  instrumentality  of  Gerbier,  steward  of 
the  household  to  Buckingham,  who  yet  lingered 
in  France,  under  pretext  of  collecting  works  of  art 
for  the  decoration  of  his  master's  palaces.     King 
Charles  and  his  ministers  were   at  this  period 
specially  odious  to  Louis  ;  the  feuds  of  the  French 
attendants  of  Queen  Henrietta  Maria,  and  the 
indiscreet  zeal  of  the  priests,   had  necessitated 
their  banishment  from  England.  London  was  pro- 
voked almost  to  a  tumult  by  the  doings  of  these 
personages,  and  by  the  unhappy  influence  which 
Madame  de  St.  Georges  exercised  over  the  quick 
temper  of  her  royal  mistress.1  From  this  lady,  who 
was  the  daughter  of  the  King's  old  gouvernante, 
Madame  de  Montglat,  Louis  heard  of  the  extrava- 
gant and  indecorous  manner  in  which  Bucking- 
ham raved  of  the  Queen  of  France,  and  of  the 
Duke's  indiscreet  comments  on  Anne's  unfortun- 
ate destiny  as  a  wife.     Lord  Montague  was  des- 
patched by  Charles  to  explain  the  step  which  he 
had  found  himself  compelled  to  sanction,  relative 
to  the   expulsion   from   England  of  Henrietta's 
French  attendants.2     Louis,  however,  being  ap- 
prized, by  Madame  de  St.  Georges,  that  the  am- 
bassador carried  letters  from  Buckingham  to  the 
Queen  and  to  the  Duchess  de  Chevreuse,  Mon- 
tague received,  on  his  arrival  in  Paris,  an  order  to 

K 


146  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1626- 

leave  the  realm  without  audience,  or  being  per- 
mitted to  deliver  his  despatches.  Bassompierre 
was  appointed,  a  few  days  subsequently,  as  am- 
bassador extraordinary  to  the  court  of  Great 
Britain ;  deputed  to  mediate,  on  behalf  of  the 
Queen-mother  and  King  Louis,  between  Charles 
and  his  Queen  ;  and  to  insist  on  the  plenary  exe- 
cution of  the  marriage  contract  which  granted  to 
Henrietta  the  full  and  public  exercise  of  her  faith. 
The  office  of  first  dame  d'atours,  vacant  by  the 
banishment  of  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  was  given 
by  the  Cardinal  to  Madame  de  Fargis,  the  wife  of 
de  Fargis,3  late  French  ambassador  at  Madrid. 
Anne  objected  violently  to  the  appointment, 
but  after  a  few  months  of  sullen  protest,  ended 
by  taking  Madame  de  Fargis  into  favour  and 
by  yielding  absurd  compliance  to  her  counsels. 
Madame  de  Fargis  was  the  daughter  of  M.  de  la 
Rochepot,  the  old  and  faithful  servant  of  Henri 
Quatre,  and  his  ambassador  for  many  years  at  the 
court  of  Madrid.  So  nighty  and  ill  regulated  was 
the  conduct  of  Madeleine  de  Silly,  that  at  an  early 
age  she  had  been  confided  by  her  father  to  the 
care  of  his  old  friend  the  Countess  de  St.  Paul,  a 
rigid  Huguenot,  as  became  the  representative  of 
the  elder  line  of  Caumont  de  la  Force  ;  and  whose 
hotel  in  Paris  seems  to  have  served  as  a  kind  of 
penitentiary  for  unruly  damsels  of  rank.  The 
discipline  of  the  Hotel  de  St.  Paul  proved  of  no 
avail.  Mademoiselle  de  Silly  so  compromised  her 
reputation  with  the  Count  de  Cramail  and  others 
that  she  was  compelled  to  seek  the  shelter  of  a 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  147 

convent.  "  One  might  have  imagined,"  says  a 
contemporary,  "  that  this  lightsome  lady  was 
beautiful :  not  at  all,  her  face  was  marked  by 
small-pox  ;  but  she  was  agreeable,  witty,  lively, 
gallant,  and  a  most  charming  companion."  Made- 
moiselle de  Silly,  however,  declined  to  take  vows, 
and  remained  at  her  convent,  the  Carmelites  of 
the  Faubourg  St.  Jacques — often  scandalizing  the 
community,  but  winning  toleration  by  her  incom- 
parable temper  and  fun — until  the  death  of  her 
father  and  of  her  eldest  and  only  sister,  the 
Countess  de  Retz.4  Madeleine,  now  sole  heiress  of 
her  late  father,  thereupon  took  leave  of  her  friends 
the  Carmelites,  under  pretext  that  her  health  for- 
bade her  to  follow  the  severity  of  their  rule.  Her 
old  levity  returned  in  full  vigour;  on  mingling  again 
with  the  world,  she  appeared  at  the  assemblies 
of  the  Hotel  Rambouillet,  and  there  captivated 
M.  de  Fargis  d'Angennes,  cousin-german  of  the 
Marquis  de  Rambouillet,  her  host.  Wit,  humour, 
and  joyous  abandon  were  more  to  a  d'Angennes 
than  morality  or  bienseance.  Madeleine  de 
Silly  became  the  wife  of  M.  de  Fargis,  who  had 
just  been  appointed  ambassador  to  Madrid,  and 
accompanied  him  to  Spain.  Her  sojourn  there 
lasted  four  years,  and  great  had  been  the  admira- 
tion excited  by  the  graceful  and  lively  ambassa- 
dress. Madame  de  Fargis,  however,  rejoiced  in  her 
husband's  recall  from  his  mission,  for  the  gloomy 
and  decorous  court  of  Philip  IV.  wearied  and 
taxed  too  severely  her  powers  of  self-control. 
She  had  scarcely  arrived  in  Paris  when  the  post 


148  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1626- 

of  lady  of  the  bedchamber  to  Queen  Anne  fell 
at  the  disposal  of  Richelieu.  Madame  de  Fargis 
instantly  solicited  the  appointment  through  the 
Cardinal  de  Berulle,  who  was  confessor  and 
director  of  the  Carmelites  of  the  Faubourg  St. 
Jacques,  and  whose  friendship  she  had  won 
during  her  seclusion  with  the  nuns.  Berulle  intro- 
duced the  fair  petitioner  to  the  potent  minister,6 
who  found  the  wit  of  Madame  de  Fargis  so  much 
to  his  taste,  and  was  so  satisfied  with  her  apparent 
devotion  to  his  interests  and  by  her  promises  to 
rule  the  Queen  and  her  household  in  subservience 
to  his  will,  that  Richelieu  decided  upon  the 
appointment.  Madame  de  Fargis  accordingly,  in 
defiance  of  the  repugnance  manifested  by  the 
Queen,  entered  upon  her  functions,  which  virtually 
gave  her  the  privileges  of  the  first  lady  of  the 
household,  as  Anne  at  this  period  had  no  dames  du 
palais.  Madame  de  la  Flotte 6  was  at  the  same 
time  appointed  by  the  Cardinal  as  governess  of 
Queen  Marie's  maids  of  honour ;  and  about  this 
period  she  introduced  her  grand-daughter,  the 
celebrated  Marie  de  Hautefort,  at  the  Luxem- 
bourg. The  merit  of  Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort 
was  discerned  by  Marie,  who  presented  her  to  the 
notice  of  Louis  XIII.  as  a  damsel  of  "  singular 
virtue  and  probity." 

Madame  de  Chevreuse,  meantime,  had  been 
busily  engaged  on  the  work  of  proving  to  the  Car- 
dinal de  Richelieu  "  that  she  was  not  the  friend- 
less and  incompetent  personage  he  took  her  to 
be."  Intent  on  vengeance,  few  could  have  more 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  149 

skilfully  combined  the  elements  of  dissension,  or 
have  fostered  so  cleverly  the  prevailing  discord 
between  the  powers  of  Europe.  In  France  dis- 
content was  rife  :  the  crown  was  gradually,  but 
firmly,  resuming  its  ancient  grants  of  privileges  to 
the  great  barons  of  the  realm,  which  had  been  so 
cruelly  misused ;  the  King  aimed  at  being  in 
future  the  sole  fountain  of  honour  and  dispenser 
of  grace.  The  haughty  lords,  who  were  para- 
mount over  the  provinces  of  the  kingdom,  saw 
themselves  displaced  for  trivial  misdemeanours, 
and  their  governments  given  to  new  men,  crea- 
tures of  the  minister,  and  dependent  upon  the 
bounty  of  the  King  for  their  position  and  revenue. 
The  Huguenots  rebelled  under  the  strong  hand  of 
Richelieu  ;  the  Rohans  beheld  their  pretensions 
to  the  once  Protestant  principality  of  Beam,  so 
long  a  menace  to  the  descendants  of  Henri  IV., 
derided.  Duplessis-Mornay  wrote  in  vain,  and 
found  his  threats  futile  ;  and  Lesdiguieres,  wise  in 
his  day,  secured  the  fortunes  of  his  house  by  re- 
nouncing Calvinism.  The  strongholds  wrested 
from  Henri  IV.  by  his  restless  subjects  of  the 
reformed  faith,  Richelieu  now  redemanded,  and 
announced  that  that  focus  of  sedition,  La  Rochelle, 
and  its  adjacent  territory  must  submit  to  the 
universal  ascendency  of  the  crown  by  the  ex- 
pulsion of  its  heretic  municipality,  and  of  its 
defenders,  de  Rohan  and  his  brothers  of  Soubise. 
The  frantic  cries  of  the  French  Protestants,  thus 
menaced  by  a  minister  armed  with  irresponsible 
power,  echoed  in  the  English  council ;  and  the 


150  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1626- 

Duke  de  Rohan  sent  his  brothers  de  Soubise  to 
implore  the  aid  of  Charles  I.  and  the  favourable 
auspices  of  Buckingham.  A  mandate  of  exter- 
mination for  the  great  Huguenot  citadel  had 
already  gone  forth  ;  the  engineers  and  the  sur- 
veyors of  the  Cardinal  encircled  La  Rochelle,  and 
by  the  command  of  his  Eminence  were  engaged  in 
fortifying  the  island  of  Re,  which  had  been  cap- 
tured by  M.  de  St.  Luc,  after  the  Huguenots  had 
suffered  a  naval  defeat  from  the  ships  under  M. 
de  Montmorency.  The  influence  of  the  Duchess 
de  Chevreuse  was  yet  alive  in  England.  Lord 
Holland  was  devoted  to  her ;  Buckingham  con- 
ciliated her  favour  for  the  sake  of  and  as  a  means 
of  access  to  Anne  of  Austria;  and  King  Charles 
admired  her  sprightliness  and  extolled  her  per- 
sonal charms.  She  was,  moreover,  a  near  kins- 
woman of  the  "  great  Rohans."  Marie  de  Rohan 
Chevreuse,  therefore,  whose  relatives  might  kindle 
civil  war  throughout  Bretagne  and  the  south  of 
France,  felt  that  her  enmity  could  make  itself  felt 
even  when  her  foe  was  the  omnipotent  Cardinal 
ruler  of  France.  Spain,  already  passively  inimi- 
cal, was  ready  to  take  up  arms  on  the  slightest 
provocation.  The  restraint  in  which  her  ambas- 
sador lived  in  Paris  ;  the  grievances  of  the  young 
Queen  Anne  ;  the  unfriendly  distance  maintained 
by  King  Louis  towards  his  wife's  kinsmen ;  and 
the  earnest  desire  manifested  by  Philip  IV.  to 
disturb  the  entente  between  the  crowns  of  France 
and  England,  apparently  riveted  by  the  marriage 
of  a  French  princess  with  Charles  I.,  rendered  the 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  151 

Spanish  minister  accessible  to  negotiation.  The 
question  concerning  the  succession  to  the  duchy 
of  Mantua,  moreover,  opened  a  multitude  of  griev- 
ances and  heartburnings.  The  new  duke  was 
one  of  Louis'  most  potent  princes,  Charles  de 
Gonzague  de  Cleves,  Due  de  Nevers.  The  Em- 
peror Ferdinand  II.  opposed  his  investiture,  and 
in  concert  with  the  Spanish  Viceroy  of  Milan  and 
the  Duke  of  Savoy,  invaded  the  duchy  and  its 
dependency  of  Montferrato.  Nevers  appealed  to 
Louis  XIII.,  and  besought  his  intervention  ;  a 
prayer,  to  which  the  politic  Richelieu  gave  little 
heed,  pending  his  warlike  designs  on  the  Rochel- 
lois.  In  the  Duke  of  Lorraine,  Madame  de  Chev- 
reuse  found  a  ready  and  willing  ally.7  Charles 
IV.  had  espoused  his  cousin  Nicole,  eldest  daughter 
of  Duke  Henry  of  Lorraine  and  Marguerite  de  Gon- 
zague, and  heiress  of  the  duchy.  The  duke  was  a 
vacillating,  unsteady  man  ;  a  slave  to  feminine 
charms  and  wiles,  and  indifferent  to  his  consort, 
whose  attachment  he  repaid  by  attempts,  after 
their  marriage,  to  set  aside  her  claims  on  the 
duchy,  and  to  assert  those  of  his  father,  the  Count 
de  Vaudemont,  as  the  nearest  male  heir  of  the  late 
duke,  his  father-in-law.8  Charles  received  Madame 
de  Chevreuse  with  distinction  ;  he  assigned  for 
her  use  the  beautiful  palace  of  Blamont,  and 
abetted  her  intrigues  to  bring  about  a  coalition  of 
the  Powers  against  France.  The  campaign  was 
to  be  inaugurated  by  the  succour  of  La  Rochelle. 
The  Duke  always  inclined  to  the  alliance  of 
Austria  rather  than  to  that  of  France.  Richelieu 


152  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1626- 

had  demanded  several  of  Charles'  frontier  strong- 
holds ;  and,  unable  to  cope  against  so  potent  a 
pleader,  he  had  sought  safety  under  the  protec- 
tion of  the  Emperor.  The  design  of  the  confeder- 
ates, after  the  relief  of  La  Rochelle  by  the  British 
fleet,  was  that  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  should 
disembark,  and  accept  a  command  in  the  late 
beleaguered  city ;  that  the  Duke  of  Savoy  should 
then  invade  Provence  ;  that  the  Duke  de  Rohan, 
at  the  head  of  the  Calvinist  armies,  should  raise 
Languedoc  ;  while  the  Duke  de  Lorraine  made 
his  way  through  Champagne  to  the  very  gates  of 
the  capital — such  having  been  the  proposed  cam- 
paign and  dream  of  all  the  traitorous  subjects  of 
France  from  the  days  of  the  great  Constable  de 
Bourbon.  To  execute  the  plan  of  the  conspiracy 
it  was  necessary  that  the  English  fleet  should  take 
the  initiative,  and  by  the  succour  of  La  Rochelle 
and  the  destruction  of  Richelieu's  famous  forts  on 
the  island  of  Re,  enable  the  French  dissidents  in 
the  south  to  take  heart  enough  to  listen  to  the 
subtle  promptings  of  Philip  IV.  and  his  minister, 
the  Count-duke  de  Olivarez.  As  Philip  II.,  the 
zealous  champion  of  the  popedom,  had  tampered 
with  the  allegiance  of  the  heretic  Henri  de 
Navarre  in  his  war  with  his  orthodox  sovereign 
King  Henry  III.,  and  promised  aid  to  the  Hugue- 
nots, so  now  Philip  IV.  was  ready  to  become 
the  ally  of  the  Rohans,  provided  that  the  realm 
suffered  calamity  enough  to  destroy  its  com- 
petition with  the  monarchy  of  Spain.  It  appears 
that  the  Queen  was  kept  constantly  informed  of 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  153 

the  progress  of  this  negotiation  ;  unadmonished 
by  her  recent  narrow  escape,  and  by  the  clemency 
which  she  had  received  at  the  hands  of  the  King 
her  consort  and  of  the  minister  whom  she  pur- 
sued with  such  reckless  hate,  Anne  ventured  still 
to  cabal.  Such  was  the  Queen's  hardihood,  and 
so  perfect  were  her  powers  of  dissimulation  and 
silent  endurance,  that  no  past  danger  ever  seems 
to  have  been  sufficiently  remembered  to  act  as  a 
warning  for  the  future.  Her  very  helplessness, 
beauty  and  affability  won  devoted  attachment, 
so  that  no  princess  ever  possessed  adherents  more 
faithful  and  determined.  Under  a  silent  and 
submissive  demeanour  strong  passions  agitated 
the  spirit  of  the  Queen :  her  haughtiness  of 
character  invested  her  with  self-control,  while 
her  passive  but  determined  enmity  rendered  her 
a  foe  to  be  dreaded  even  by  Richelieu. 

The  young  Duchess  of  Orleans,  during  the 
course  of  these  events,  gave  birth  to  a  daughter  at 
the  Louvre,  May  29th,  and  died  a  few  days 
afterwards,  surviving  her  marriage  with  Monsieur 
scarcely  ten  months.9  To  propitiate  Monsieur, 
and  to  make  him  loyally  oblivious  of  the  vexa- 
tions he  had  experienced  at  Nantes,  Madame  re- 
ceived enthusiastic  welcome  at  the  Louvre,  and 
was  invested  with  privileges  derogatory  to  the 
prerogatives  of  the  Queen-consort.  The  Duchess 
was  dispensed  from  the  obligation  of  visiting  the 
saloon  of  the  Queen  daily;  neither  was  she 
expected  to  present  herself  three  times  in  the 
week  at  her  Majesty's  lever,  as  had  been  the 


154  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1626- 

in variable  etiquette  of  the  court  of  France.  At  the 
public  receptions  of  the  Louvre,  Marie  de'  Medici 
and  Madame  gathered  around  them  a  coterie  of  the 
most  brilliant  personages  of  the  court ;  while 
Anne  sat  in  her  chair  of  state  comparatively  aban- 
doned, being  timidly  addressed  by  Monsieur,  and 
saluted  with  ceremonious  politeness  by  the  King. 
Madame  does  not  appear  to  have  been  deeply 
lamented;  her  infant  daughter,10  heiress  of  her 
immense  wealth,  was  confided  to  the  care  of  Marie 
de'  Medici,  who  had  her  brought  up  at  the 
Tuileries,  under  Madame  de  St.  Georges.11  The 
fancy  of  Monsieur  soon  became  fascinated  by  the 
radiant  loveliness  of  a  fair  young  princess  of  Gon- 
zague-Nevers,  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Mantua,  a 
debutante  at  court,  and  to  whom  he  commenced  to 
offer  ardent  suit. 

Bassompierre,  meanwhile,  had  returned  from 
London,  having  partially  succeeded  in  mediating 
between  Charles  and  his  consort.  Henrietta, 
however,  still  mourning  her  early  friends,  and 
believing  herself  lost  in  a  land  of  heretics,  where  her 
priests  were  pelted  in  the  streets  by  the  London 
populace  and  her  faith  derided,  implored  the 
Queen  her  mother  to  permit  her  to  visit  France — 
"  But,  Madame,  this  happiness,  if  you  grant  it  to 
me,  can  only  be  obtained  by  permitting  M.  de 
Buckingham  to  become  my  escort  to  your  court." 
The  Duke  of  Buckingham  also  confided  to  Bas- 
sompierre his  longing  desire  to  return  to  Paris; 
and  charged  the  ambassador  to  sound  the  Car- 
dinal on  the  subject,  and  to  hint  that  great  achieve- 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  155 

ments  in  diplomacy,  very  advantageous  to  France, 
might  be  obtained  by  their  personal  conference.12 
Bassompierre  performed  his  mission,  and  stated 
the  Duke's  wish,  which  was  met  on  the  part  of 
Louis  XIII.  by  an  indignant  refusal.13  Anne  also 
privately  requested  Bassompierre  to  write  to  M. 
de  Buckingham  to  put  off  his  visit ;  and  to  state, 
in  her  name,  that  such  would  be  very  displeasing 
to  her.14  The  disappointment  of  Buckingham 
hurried  him  into  the  folly  of  lending  a  favourable 
ear  to  the  solicitations  of  the  Rochellois,  whose 
interests  were  supported  in  England  by  M.  de 
Soubise.  He,  moreover,  entered  into  a  close 
correspondence  with  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  and 
selected  as  the  medium  of  his  communications 
with  the  Duchess,  Walter  Montague,  second  son  of 
the  first  Earl  of  Manchester,  who  was  about  to 
travel  in  France.  Richelieu,  however,  was  too 
wary  to  be  so  surprised,  or  to  suffer  the  enemies 
of  France  to  complete  their  coalition  ere  he  struck 
the  blow  which  should  subjugate  his  master's  re- 
bellious subjects  of  the  reformed  faith.  Moreover, 
Monsieur  was  again  sullen  and  unmanageable,  al- 
though honours,  privileges  and  wealth  were 
heaped  upon  him  with  a  lavish  hand.  For  some 
inscrutable  reason  of  her  own,  Marie  de'  Medici 
opposed  the  desire  of  Monsieur  to  espouse  for  his 
second  wife  the  Princess  Marie  de  Gonzague,  of 
whom  he  continued  madly  enamoured.  The  Car- 
dinal, whose  policy  it  was  to  humour  his  royal 
patroness  in  all  possible  ways,  save  in  those 
matters  which  might  have  operated  for  his  own 


156  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1626- 

downfall,  supported  her  Majesty  in  this  refusal, 
and  gained  over  the  King  to  show  similar  dis- 
approbation. Monsieur  threatened,  stormed— 
but  was  finally  propitiated  for  an  interval,  by  the 
promise  of  a  military  command.15  Without  wait- 
ing, therefore,  for  his  foes  to  perfect  their  design, 
Louis  XIII.  invested  La  Rochelle,  and  appointed 
his  brother  as  general-in-chief  of  his  armies ;  nomi- 
nating Bassompierre  and  M.  de  Schomberg  as 
his  aides-de-camp  and  counsellors.  This  con- 
cession, however,  was  extorted  from  the  King, 
who  jealously  watched  the  career  of  Monsieur  ; 
and  was  conceded  only  on  news  of  the  sailing  of 
Buckingham  and  the  fleet  from  Portsmouth, 
during  a  sharp  attack  of  his  old  malady,  wrhich 
prevented  Louis  from  leaving  the  Chateau  de 
Villeroy,  whither  he  had  arrived  from  Paris  en 
route  for  the  camp. 

Buckingham  meanwhile  set  sail  at  the  begin- 
ning of  July,  1627,  with  a  fleet  of  fifty  men-of-war 
and  of  sixty  smaller  vessels,  and  an  army  of  7000 
men.16  Charles  declared  to  his  council  that  his 
reasons  for  invading  France  were  threefold — 1st, 
that  King  Louis  had  declined  to  grant  a  passage 
through  France  to  some  English  levies  under 
Count  Mansfield  ;  2ndly,  that  the  French  fleet 
had  made  prizes  of  some  small  coasting  vessels 
hovering  about  La  Rochelle  ;  and  lastly,  because 
the  Huguenots  were  oppressed,  and  in  danger  of 
losing  all  their  strongholds,  La  Rochelle  being 
already  besieged.  The  Duke  of  Buckingham  was 
more  candidly  explicit  on  the  causes  and  motives 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  157 

of  the  war.     "  In  spite  of  all  the  power  and  might 
of  France,  I  will  see  her  fair  Queen  again  !  "  ex- 
claimed he  publicly  at  a  farewell    banquet  at 
Whitehall.     The  Duke's  galley  was  adorned  with 
a  yellow  and  black  banner,  the  colours  of  Anne  of 
Austria,   and    her    cipher  was    everywhere   dis- 
played.17  The  chief  cabin  on  board  was  dedicated 
to  her  charms  :    it  was  draped  with  yellow  silk 
damask  ;  at  one  end  was  a  life-size  picture  of  the 
Queen,  shrouded  by  superb  curtains  of  cloth  of 
gold,  before  which  golden  candelabra  were  placed, 
holding  lighted  tapers  of  white  wax.18    The  mad- 
ness and  infatuation  of  this  conduct  admit  of  no 
palliation ;    the  prosperity  of  the  Duke's  career 
must  have  induced  insanity,  and  have  rendered 
him  cruelly  forgetful  of  the  position  of  Anne  of 
Austria,  and  of  the  disgrace  which  his  insensate 
ambition  had  already  inflicted.     So  unexpectedly 
was  the  expedition  decided  upon,  that  the  munici- 
pality of  La  Rochelle  were  not  even  apprised  of 
the  sailing  of  the  fleet  when  Buckingham  appeared 
before  the  town ;  the  people,  therefore,  refused  to 
admit  their  intending  allies  before  due  inquiry 
had  been  made  as  to  the  object  of  the  landing 
of   so   formidable   a   force.19     Buckingham  thus 
repulsed,  attacked  the  island  of  Re,  and  began  to 
batter  the  great  fort  of  St.  Martin,  which  was  de- 
fended by  the  brave  M.  de  Toiras  with  admirable 
valour.     The  cannonade,  however,  was  suspended 
for  a  few  days,  by  order  of  the  Duke  ;  who,  being 
probably  assailed  with  misgivings  as  to  the  motive 
of  the  war,  and  perhaps  a  little  disheartened  by 


158  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1626- 

his  reception  by  the  Rochellois,  abated  in  much 
of  his  boasted  vigour.  Richelieu  immediately 
ordered  the  despatch  of  6000  men  under  Schom- 
berg  to  Re,  who  encamped  on  the  island,  and 
rendered  essential  assistance  to  Toiras ;  while 
Monsieur  diligently  pushed  the  siege  by  land. 
The  Duke  of  Buckingham  was  profuse  in  his 
civilities  to  any  French  gentlemen  who  visited  his 
fleet.  M.  Saint  Surin,  a  distant  kinsman  of 
Richelieu,  especially  recommended  himself  to  the 
Duke's  favour  ;  and  the  latter  one  day  introduced 
him  into  the  chamber  on  board  the  galley  where 
the  picture  of  Anne  of  Austria  hung.  Buckingham 
boldly  avowed  his  admiration  for  the  Queen,  and 
his  desire  to  visit  Paris  ;  bitterly  complaining  of 
the  uncourteous  refusal  of  the  prayer,  which  he 
had  preferred  through  Bassompierre.  He  ended 
by  requesting  M.  Saint  Surin  to  communicate 
again  his  desire  to  the  Cardinal ;  engaging,  if  his 
Christian  Majesty  consented  to  receive  him  in  the 
capacity  of  ambassador  from  his  Britannic  Ma- 
jesty, that  he  would  presently  take  pretext  to 
retire  from  before  La  Rochelle  and  leave  the  city 
to  its  fate.  St.  Surin  undertook  the  mission  ;  but 
repented  his  officiousness  when  he  found  himself 
arrested  after  his  interview  with  the  minister,  and 
about  to  be  consigned  to  the  Bastille  "  for  pre- 
sumptuous and  traitorous  communication  with 
the  enemy  "  ;  a  fate  from  which  his  kinship  to 
Richelieu  delivered  him.20  Meanwhile  the  garrison 
of  Fort  St.  Martin  was  reinforced  by  the  unfore- 
seen and  gallant  descent  of  Schomberg.  The 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  159 

blockade,  also,  being  loosely  maintained,  the  be- 
leaguered garrison  obtained  abundance  of  pro- 
vision. On  the  20th  of  October  Buckingham 
landed  his  troops  and  again  attacked  the  fort ; 
he  was  repulsed  with  immense  slaughter,  and  his 
soldiers  driven  into  the  sea  by  the  troops  under 
Schomberg.  Retreat  became  inevitable,  and  the 
embarkation  of  the  soldiers  under  such  disastrous 
circumstances  was  attended  with  further  loss  of 
life.  The  Duke  rejoined  his  fleet,  having  lost 
more  than  half  of  his  land  forces,  and  immediately 
set  sail  for  England.21 

The  vigilance  of  the  Cardinal  was  rewarded  in 
another  quarter  by  an  important  capture.  Walter 
Montague,22  as  has  before  been  related,  had  been 
charged  with  the  perilous  office  of  carrying  the 
correspondence  and  the  replies  returned  by  the 
English  court  to  Madame  de  Chevreuse.  Through 
his  spies  Richelieu  learned  that  suspicious  cir- 
cumstances were  attached  to  the  frequent  jour- 
neys to  and  from  Nancy  made  by  the  young 
Englishman  ;  and  that  the  letters  he  was  known 
to  carry  were  probably  of  more  momentous 
import  than  effusions  sent  by  the  English  admirers 
of  the  Duchess.  A  warrant  was  thereupon  issued 
for  the  detention  of  Montague,  which  was  de- 
livered for  execution  to  the  Marquis  de  Borbonne, 
who  arrested  him  on  the  frontiers  of  Lorraine,  and 
conveyed  him  a  prisoner  to  the  neighbouring 
castle  of  Coissy.23  His  papers  were  seized  and 
despatched  to  Paris.  The  fact  of  the  arrest  of 
Montague  was  communicated  to  the  Queen,  as 


160  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1626- 

her  Majesty  was  supping  in  public.  Anne  turned 
deadly  pale,  and  pushed  the  dishes  from  before 
her  as  they  were  presented ;  then  rising,  at  the 
conclusion  of  the  repast,  she  retired  to  her  private 
apartments.  Her  distress  and  consternation  ap- 
pear to  have  been  extreme  ;  it  was  possible  that 
Montague's  papers  might  again  fatally  com- 
promise her  position — at  any  rate,  she  dreaded 
lest  the  examination  of  the  prisoner  would  reveal 
her  own  guilty  knowledge  of  the  design  forming 
for  the  invasion  of  France.  Her  perturbation  was 
increased  by  the  arrival,  a  few  hours  later,  of  a 
note  from  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  written  in  wild 
alarm,  apprising  her  Majesty  of  the  arrest  of 
Montague,  but  professing  total  ignorance  as  to 
the  nature  of  the  despatches  and  letters  of  which 
he  was  the  bearer. 

Anne  spent  the  night  and  part  of  the  following 
day  weeping  in  her  oratory,  alone  with  Madame  de 
Fargis;  devising  means  for  communicating  with 
Montague,  in  order  to  discover  what  the  con- 
fiscated papers  contained.  The  sympathy  of 
Madame  de  Fargis  at  this  juncture  elicited  the 
Queen's  entire  confidence  :  with  all  her  wilful 
perversity,  and  dissimulation,  there  was,  at  any 
crisis,  a  touching  helplessness  and  grief  in  Anne's 
aspect  which  usually  proved  irresistible  in  evoking 
the  best  energies  of  her  adherents.  Her  friends 
felt  themselves  honoured  by  the  outward  aban- 
donment, on  the  part  of  their  royal  mistress, 
of  the  distance  imposed  by  her  rank ;  by  her 
naive  appeals  to  their  sympathy;  and  by  her 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  161 

admissions  that,  abandoned  by  their  help,  she 
esteemed  herself  lost.  Through  the  Cardinal  de 
Berulle,  Madame  de  Fargis  discovered  that  the 
prisoner  Montague  was  to  be  immediately  escorted 
to  the  Bastille  ;  and  that  certain  regiments  of  the 
royal  guards  were  already  selected  to  proceed  to 
Coissy  on  the  morrow.  In  one  of  these  regiments 
the  Queen  suddenly  remembered  that  her  faithful 
La  Porte  had  been  drafted  as  a  soldier  after 
his  dismissal  from  her  service,  on  the  return  of 
the  court  from  Amiens.  Her  Majesty,  there- 
fore, applied  to  M.  Lavaux,  who  was  intimate  with 
La  Porte,  and  the  father  of  one  of  her  dressers, 
to  bring  the  latter  to  the  Louvre  at  midnight, 
when  she  would  confer  with  him  secretly  in  her 
oratory.  To  such  clandestine  and  undignified 
interviews  Anne  was  driven,  to  hide  the  miserable 
intrigues  from  which  she  could  not  refrain. 

Anne  seems  always  to  have  taken  the  oppor- 
tunity to  cabal  when  her  adopted  country  was  in 
straits  and  needed  loyal  devotion.  At  this  period 
France  was  menaced  abroad  by  the  arms  of 
England,  Spain,  Savoy,  and  Lorraine  ;  the  Em- 
peror Ferdinand  defied  her  power,  and  in  spite 
of  earnest  expostulations,  was  proceeding  to  ruin 
and  dethrone  the  French  prince,  whom  the  rights 
of  primogeniture  had  placed  on  the  ducal  throne 
of  Mantua.  At  home  civil  war  menaced  the 
realm  :  the  Huguenots  were  utterly  disaffected 
and  malcontent ;  and  the  heir-presumptive  to  the 
throne  threatened  to  league  with  rebels,  against 
whom  he  had  accepted  a  command.  Monsieur 


162  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1626- 

had  suddenly  retired  from  the  camp  before  La 
Rochelle  on  the  arrival  there  of  the  King.     He 
stated  in  excuse,  that  Louis   had  promised  him 
the  command  in  chief,  which  engagement  was  an- 
nulled by  the  royal  presence  ;  moreover,  that  the 
continued  opposition  made  to  his  marriage  with 
Marie  de  Gonzague  convinced  him  that  "  their 
Majesties  never  had  his  welfare  and  happiness  at 
heart."   At  court  the  Queen-mother  was  involved 
in  violent  dissensions  with  the  Cardinal  minister, 
respecting    the    Lord    Keeper    Marillac,    whom 
Richelieu  wished  to  supersede  in  the  ministry  in 
favour  of  the  more  able  de  Chateauneuf .  Such  was 
the  position  of  affairs  when  Queen  Anne  joined  in 
the  correspondence  of  the  Duchess  de  Chevreuse 
with  the  foes  of  France.     This  incident  in  the 
troubled    career  of  the  Queen  would   probably 
have  escaped  record  but  for  the  pen  of  La  Porte. 
It  does  not  appear  that,  at  this  period,  any  cor- 
respondence injurious  to  Anne  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  King.    Richelieu  probably  did  suspect,  and 
acted  on  his  suspicion  ;   but  proof  of  Anne's  mis- 
demeanour failed  him  ;  and  it  was  ever  the  policy 
of  the  Cardinal,  "  never  to  accuse,  without  he 
could  likewise  stab."     "  The  news  of  the  arresta- 
tion  of  my  lord  Montague  threw  the  Queen  into  a 
strange  fright,"  records  La  Porte,24  "  she  dreaded 
lest  her   name   might   be   compromised   by  the 
papers  taken  from  Montague  ;  and  that,  if  such  a 
fact  had  been  laid  before  the  King,  with  whom 
she  was  not  then  on  good  terms,  his  Majesty  might 
ill-treat  her,  and  send  her  back  to  Spain,  as  he 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  163 

would  most  assuredly  have  done.  This  fear  so 
greatly  disquieted  her  Majesty,  that  she  could 
neither  eat  nor  sleep.  She  was  in  this  quandary 
when  her  Majesty  suddenly  remembered  that  I 
was  a  soldier  of  one  of  the  regiments  chosen  for 
the  escort  of  my  lord.  She,  therefore,  enquired  of 
Lavaux  where  I  could  be  found  ;  he  looked  me  up, 
and  conducted  me  at  midnight  to  the  Queen's 
chamber,  after  every  person  had  retired.  Her 
Majesty  explained  to  me  her  trouble  ;  adding, 
that  having  no  person  whom  she  could  trust,  she 
had  sent  for  me,  believing  that  I  should  serve  her 
with  devotion.  She  said,  that  on  the  report 
which  I  was  to  bring  her,  depended  her  worldly 
salvation,  and  honour.  The  Queen  then  ex- 
plained her  desire  ;  and  directed  me  to  take  the 
opportunity  when  I  was  on  guard  near  to  the 
person  of  the  said  prisoner  Montague,  to  ask  him 
whether  in  the  papers  taken  from  him  her 
Majesty  was  named  ?  Also,  if  it  should  happen, 
as  it  was  certain  to  befal,  that  when  in  the  Bastille 
he  should  be  subjected  to  severe  interrogatories, 
and  pressed  to  reveal  all  the  accomplices  in  the 
intended  league,  I  was  to  pray  and  admonish 
earnestly  the  said  my  lord,  not  to  name  her 
Majesty.  I  succeeded  in  informing  Montague  of 
the  distress  of  the  Queen  ;  and  he  replied,  '  That 
her  Majesty  might  rest  tranquil ;  for  that  he  be- 
lieved she  was  not  named  directly,  or  indirectly, 
in  any  of  the  letters  and  despatches  taken  from 
him  '  ;  also,  he  assured  me  I  might  tell  the  Queen, 
4  that  he  would  rather  die  than  reveal,  or  say 


164  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1626- 

any thing  that  could  injure  her ! '  When  I  delivered 
this  reply,  the  Queen  actually  trembled  for  joy  !  5: 
writes  La  Porte.  Anne  escaped  this  time  with  the 
fright.  The  young  "  my  lord  "  was  subjected  to 
no  examination  of  consequence  in  the  Bastille, 
and  was  simply  detained  there  until  the  peace 
with  England,  concluded  in  1629  ;  when,  out  of 
deference  to  the  clamour  of  the  Duke  of  Lorraine, 
"  the  ambassador  accredited  to  his  court "  was 
conducted  under  escort  to  the  frontiers  of  the 
duchy,  and  there  released. 

The  Rochellois,  meantime,  were  comforted  in 
their   adversity  and  desertion  by  the  entry  into 
their  harbour  of  a  fast  sailing  vessel,  bringing  a 
letter  from  Charles  I.,  assuring  the  citizens  of  his 
continued  support ;   and  that  he  was  preparing  a 
fleet  and  armament  which  would  at  once  insure 
the  concession  of  their  liberties.  Delays,  however, 
arose,  of  which  the  French  government  knew  how 
to  profit.    Throughout  the  winter  of  1627  and  the 
first  months  of  the  following  year,  the  siege  was 
carried  on  with  wonderful  vigour.    The  King  re- 
mained in  camp  until  the  9th  of  February  1628  ; 
when,  feeling  indisposed,  he  returned  to  Paris, 
leaving  Richelieu  sole  commander-in-chief,  with 
the  power  of  life  and  death  over  every  person 
engaged  in  the  siege.25    Aware  that  the  Rochellois 
could  never  be  subdued  while  their  city  was  open 
to  the  approach  of  an  English  fleet,  Richelieu 
commenced  that  wonderful  work,  the  mole  and 
fortification    which    close    the    harbour    of    La 
Rochelle.  Two  French  engineers,  Louis  Metezeau, 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  165 

a  townsman  of  Dreux,  and  Jean  Tiriot,  were  the 
designers  of  the  work,  which  was  carried  on  under 
the  inspection  of  the  Cardinal,  whose  courage 
and  perseverance  were  sustained  by  his  able  coun- 
sellor the  Capuchin  father,  Joseph  de  Tremblay. 
The  Cardinal  lived  in  a  lone  house  known  as  Le 
Pont  de  la  Pierre,  situated  a  stone's  cast  from  the 
beach.  There  the  Cardinal  and  "  his  shadow  " 
worked,  plotted,  pondered  and  sustained  each 
other  during  the  blockade  ;  they  sketched  im- 
aginary schemes  for  the  glory  and  the  political 
government  of  France,  which,  impossible  as  these 
designs  then  appeared,  the  matchless  genius  of 
these  two  men  realised  under  the  fostering  growth 
of  King  Louis'  inaptitude  for  affairs  of  state,  his 
ever  wavering  health,  and  the  suspicions  which 
poisoned  his  existence. 

Long  and  angry  debates  ensued  meanwhile  in 
the  English  Parliament  relative  to  Buckingham's 
policy ; 26  which  retarded  the  sailing  of  the  pro- 
mised succours,  and  enabled  the  French  engineers 
to  continue  their  works,  the  aim  of  which  mystified 
the  British  cabinet.  The  fate  of  the  rebel  city  was 
rendered  more  desperate  by  the  assassination  of 
Buckingham ;  who  fell  by  the  knife  of  one  Felton, 
August  24th,  1628,  after  granting  audience  to 
Soubise,  and  other  French  gentlemen,  at  Ports- 
mouth, as  he  was  again  about  to  embark  to  relieve 
Rochelle.27  The  assassin  had  served  in  the  former 
expedition  to  Re,  and  had  felt  himself  aggrieved, 
because  the  captain  of  his  ship  having  fallen 
during  the  memorable  embarkation  from  that 


166  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1626- 

island,  the  Duke  declined  to  promote  him  to  the 
vacant  post.  The  news  of  the  death  of  Bucking- 
ham was  received  with  satisfaction  in  France. 
The  Queen  refused  for  long  to  believe  that  the 
gallant,  handsome  favourite  had  fallen.  "  No  !  ': 
exclaimed  Anne,  "  it  is  impossible  !  I  have  just 
received  letters  from  the  Duke."  28  When  con- 
vinced of  his  death,  her  dejection  was  great ;  and 
for  some  time  her  Majesty  seemed  to  find  solace 
only  in  the  correspondence  of  Queen  Henrietta. 
The  latter,  however,  had  hated  the  presuming 
favourite,  whom  she  accused  of  attempting  to  de- 
grade her  to  the  forlorn  position  of  her  sister-in- 
law  ;  and  who  had  suggested  the  banishment  of 
her  French  ladies,  to  avenge  his  own  exclusion 
from  the  Louvre.  The  command  of  the  English 
fleet  was  conferred  on  the  Earl  of  Lindsay  ;  who, 
on  the  28th  of  September,  appeared  off  La 
Rochelle  with  a  fleet  of  seventy-two  vessels  and 
attacked  Richelieu's  new  fortifications,  but  failed 
to  destroy  them,  or  to  open  the  harbour.  The 
inhabitants,  meantime,  were  reduced  to  the  last 
extremities  of  famine  ;  on  the  repulse  of  their 
allies,  their  despair  and  sufferings  compelled  them 
to  open  negotiations  with  their  incensed  sovereign 
and  his  minister.  These  overtures  were  made 
October  23rd.  On  the  30th  the  city  surrendered 
and  was  punished  by  the  total  abrogation  of  its 
charters  and  privileges,  besides  the  imposition  of 
a  fine  to  an  immense  amount,  to  defray  the  cost 
of  the  fortifications  and  siege  works.  On  the  1st  of 
November,  All  Saints'  Day,  the  victorious  Riche- 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  167 

lieu  celebrated  mass  at  the  high  altar  of  the  late 
heretic  cathedral  dedicated  to  Ste.  Marguerite, 
after  the  solemn  reconsecration  of  the  church  by 
the  Archbishop  of  Bordeaux.  The  same  day 
Louis  XIII.  made  his  state  entry  into  the  revolted 
city.  Thus,  after  seven  successful  revolts  against 
the  royal  authority  in  the  space  of  100  years,  the 
factious  Rochellois  were  totally  subdued ;  their 
fortifications  levelled  ;  their  privileges  annulled  ; 
and  their  harbour  effectually  barred  against  the 
approach  of  any  fleet  but  that  of  their  liege 
sovereign.  The  English  fleet  under  Lord  Lindsay 
made  sail  after  the  surrender  of  La  Rochelle,  and 
safely  put  into  port  in  Portsmouth  harbour.  The 
ignoble  termination  of  this  expedition  occasioned 
stormy  and  even  tumultuous  debates  in  the 
English  Chambers.  Peace,  however,  was  even- 
tually concluded  with  France  in  September  of  the 
following  year,  1629  :  the  articles  of  the  marriage 
treaty  of  Henriette  Marie  were  confirmed  again  ; 
England  abandoned  the  Huguenots  of  France  to 
their  fate  ;  an  amnesty  was  to  be  granted  for  all 
concerned  in  the  late  transactions,  and  Madame  de 
Chevreuse  was  to  be  recalled  from  banishment  and 
suffered  to  reside  in  the  chateau  of  Dampierre.2' 

The  submission  of  La  Rochelle  was  followed  by 
an  expedition  undertaken  by  the  King  in  person  to 
compel  the  Spaniards  to  raise  the  siege  of  Casale  ; 
which  was  invested  by  Don  Gonzalez  de  Cordova. 
The  Emperor  persisted  in  his  refusal  to  grant  in- 
vestiture of  the  duchy  of  Mantua  to  Charles  de 
Gonzagues ;  and  demanded  that  the  territory 


168  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1626- 

should  be  relinquished  to  him  as  lord  paramount, 
until  the  rights  of  the  various  claimants  were 
examined  and  adjusted.  Duke  Charles  implored 
the  succour  of  the  King  ;  and  the  policy  of  Riche- 
lieu being  now  favourable  to  the  old  tactics  of 
Sully  and  Henri  Quatre,  the  Duke's  prayer  was 
conceded.  The  reduction  of  the  remaining  Hugue- 
not strongholds  of  the  South  the  minister  post- 
poned to  the  more  propitious  season,  when  both 
Spain  and  Austria,  humbled  by  the  victorious 
arms  of  France,  as  he  had  predetermined,  should 
thereby  be  compelled  to  abandon  these  rebellious 
vassals  to  the  mercy  of  the  government.  The 
King,  accompanied  by  Richelieu,  quitted  Paris 
February  4,  1629,  for  his  Italian  expedition.  He 
was  attended  by  the  Dukes  de  Longueville,  d'El- 
boeuf,  de  Schomberg  ;  the  Marshals  de  Bassom- 
pierre,  de  Crequi,  and  other  noblemen.  The  army, 
flushed  with  its  recent  success  before  La  Rochelle, 
was  obedient  and  enthusiastic,  and  regarded  the 
relief  of  the  fortress  of  Casale,  and  the  expulsion 
of  the  Spaniards  and  Savoyards  from  Montferrat, 
as  a  very  inferior  achievement.  The  prospect  of  a 
war  with  Spain  was  a  bitter  accession  of  grievance 
to  the  Queen  ;  and  at  this  period  her  stolen  in- 
terviews became  so  frequent  with  the  Spanish 
ambassador,  the  Marquis  de  Mirabel,  as  to  give 
great  umbrage  to  the  King.  One  day  before  the 
departure  of  Richelieu  from  Paris,  he  paid  a  visit 
of  formal  courtesy  to  Queen  Anne  to  say  fare- 
well. As  the  visit  of  the  minister  had  not  been 
previously  announced,  he  found  Mirabel  closeted 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  169 

with  her  Majesty  ;  the  only  other  person  present 
being  Madame  de  Fargis.  The  Cardinal  advanced, 
and  after  inclining  profoundly  before  the  Queen, 
addressed  Mirabel  with  his  usual  bland  cordiality 
of  tone.  "  Monsieur  PAmbassadeur,"  said  he, 
"  his  Christian  Majesty  desired  me,  on  the  first 
opportunity,  to  express  to  you  his  regret  and 
astonishment  at  the  haste  which  the  Emperor  has 
shown  in  sending  his  armies  into  the  Milanese,  and 
against  Duke  Charles  of  Mantua,  an  old  subject  of 
France  !  ':  "  The  Emperor  might  certainly  have 
shown  more  prudence  if  he  had  waited  for  the 
termination  of  our  negotiations  with  your  Emi- 
nence. His  Imperial  Majesty  doubtless  believed 
that  the  affair  would  drag  on  here  with  endless 
tedium,  as  it  has  so  often  happened  ;  he  therefore 
deemed  it  politic  to  urge  on  a  denouement  by 
arms  !  "  responded  Mirabel,  sarcastically.  Riche- 
lieu showed  that  he  was  piqued  at  this  reply,  and 
to  turn  the  conversation  he  addressed  the  Queen 
on  some  indifferent  matter.  Anne,  however,  rose, 
and  taking  the  hand  of  Mirabel  interposed,  saying, 
"  M.  1'Ambassadeur,  do  not  excite  yourself.  I, 
who  have  at  heart  the  interests  of  Spain  in  equal 
degree  with  those  of  France,  cannot  approve  of  the 
precipitancy  shown  by  the  Emperor  in  sending  his 
armies  as  a  menace  to  our  frontiers.  I  will  myself 
write  to  the  King  my  brother  on  the  subject." 
It  had  been  often  better  for  the  Queen  if  she  had 
remembered  the  celebrated  axiom  of  Richelieu  : 
"  If  words  are  the  first  power  in  the  world,  silence 
is  the  second  ! "  When  this  conversation  was 


170  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1626- 

repeated  by  Richelieu  to  the  King,  he  was  greatly 
offended  that  the  Queen  had  declared  "  that  she 
had  the  interest  of  Spain  as  much  at  heart  as  that 
of  France,"  and  personally  administered  a  sharp 
rebuke ;  forbidding  her  Majesty  during  his  absence 
to  see  the  Spanish  ambassador,  who  had  alone 
disobeyed  the  recent  ordinance  prohibiting  entree 
to  the  Queen's  private  saloons  to  the  gentlemen 
of  the  court. 

During  the  absence  of  the  King,  Anne  withdrew 
to  St.  Germain,  attended  by  her  household  ;  while 
Marie  de'  Medici,  installed  in  the  Louvre,  repre- 
sented the  absent  majesty  of  France,  and  held  all 
court  receptions.  Occasionally  Anne  ventured  to 
trespass  upon  the  strict  injunctions  which  she  had 
received  to  avoid  the  capital,  by  paying  private 
visits  to  the  Val  de  Grace,  a  convent  which  she  had 
recently  founded.  Even  this  privilege  of  retreat 
Anne  had  managed  to  abuse,  by  granting  secret 
audiences  in  the  convent  to  Mirabel,  and  to  other 
personages  who  presumed  not  to  present  them- 
selves at  the  Louvre.  Richelieu's  spies,  however, 
soon  detected  the  subterfuge,  and  it  was  several 
times  reported  to  the  minister  that  M.  de  Mirabel 
had  been  seen  to  leave  his  coach  in  an  obscure 
street  adjacent  to  the  Faubourg  St.  Jacques  and 
proceed  on  foot  to  the  Val  de  Grace,  where  he 
was  admitted ;  and  after  an  interval  of  several 
hours  was  observed  in  the  same  furtive  manner 
to  return  to  his  coach.31  The  mystery  so  foolishly 
maintained  by  the  Queen  in  her  intercourse  with 
her  own  family,  and  her  pertinacity  in  refusing 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  171 

to  impart  the  purport  of  any  of  her  frequent 
communications,  added  to  the  well-known  facts 
that  she  was  in  correspondence  with  Madame  de 
Chevreuse,  and  occasionally  so  with  Monsieur, 
afforded  ground  for  the  suspicion  that  she  was  dis- 
loyal to  her  husband's  crown.  Her  preference  for 
everything  Spanish,  and  the  favour  which  she 
showed  to  persons  who  spoke  her  native  tongue, 
such  as  Mesdames  Bertaut  and  de  Fargis,  and  the 
daughter  of  the  former,  afterwards  the  celebrated 
Madame  de  Motteville,  perpetuated  the  notion,  of 
which  Anne  unreasonably  complained,  that  she 
was  still  in  heart  an  alien  from  France.  It  was 
moreover  suspected,  and  all  but  proved,  that  at 
this  period  Anne  reported  to  Mirabel  any  decision 
of  the  privy  council  affecting  her  brother's  affairs 
which  accidentally  came  to  her  knowledge,  or 
any  hasty  and  inconsiderate  word  which  dropped 
in  her  presence  from  the  lips  of  the  King  or  his 
minister  concerning  their  Catholic  Majesties.32  In 
the  abbess  of  the  Val  de  Grace,  Luisa  de  Milleyy 
Anne  found  a  companion  and  firm  friend.  The 
brother  of  the  abbess  was  a  subject  of  Spain,  being 
a  native  of  Franche  Comte,  and  governor  of 
Besan9on.  Luisa  de  Milley  had  been  educated  in 
the  Carmelite  convent  of  Avila  :  all  her  aspira- 
tions were  therefore  Spanish  ;  and  as  many  of  her 
connections  resided  in  Spain,  this  liaison  afforded 
the  Queen  an  easy  and  invaluable  mode  of  com- 
munication with  her  own  country. 

"  The  Queen,"  writes  Madame  de  Motteville, 
"  being  still  young,  but  desirous  of  providing  for 


172  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1626- 

her    eternal    salvation    before    all    things,    had 
selected  the  convent  of  the  Val  de  Grace  as  a 
place  of  retreat,  where  she  could  always  retire, 
and  taste  that  peace  which  is  to  be  found  only  at 
the  footstool  of  God."     Anne,  in  1621,  bought  the 
Hotel  de  Valois,  for  the  sum  of  36,000  livres  ;  the 
old  building  was  partially  demolished,  July  1623, 
and  the  remaining  apartments  adapted  to  con- 
ventual purposes,  after  the  Queen  had  selected  a 
suite  of  rooms  for  her  own  occupation.     Anne 
built  a  superb  private  oratory,  the  altar  of  which 
was  decorated  with  a  painting  and  a  crucifix, 
gifts  of  Philip  IV.  of  Spain.     The  community  of 
Val  Profond,  a  small  convent  situated  about  nine 
miles  from  Bievre,   was  chosen  to  inhabit  her 
Majesty's  new  foundation  ;   but  why  these  ladies 
were  so  favoured  does  not  appear.     The  nuns, 
with  their  abbess,  La  Mere  d'Arbouze,  were  in- 
stalled at  the  Val  de  Grace  in  the  early  part  of  the 
year  1623.     The  community  was  of  the  Benedic- 
tine order  ;  and  their  abbess  appears  to  have  been 
renowned  for  saintly  austerity,  as  she  was  trans- 
ferred during  the  following  year  to  the  convent  of 
La  Charite,  there  to  enforce  discipline  and  the 
rule  of  St.  Benedict,  which  had  fallen  into  disuse, 
to  the  great  scandal  of  the  neighbourhood.   Luisa 
de  Milley,  abbess  of  St.  Etienne,  was  then  chosen 
by  the  Queen  as  the  head  of  her  house,  and  as- 
sumed rule  at  Val  de  Grace  about  the  year  1625. 
Anne  immediately   established   relations   of  the 
closest   confidence    with   the    new   abbess,    who 
sympathised  deeply  in  her  Majesty's  distresses. 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  173 

The  abbess  was  subsequently  accused  of  having 
sanctioned  public  prayer  in  her  chapel,  for  the 
downfall  of  the  Cardinal  minister  and  of  all  the 
other   enemies  of  the  very  Christian   and    per- 
secuted Queen  of  France.     La  Mere  Luisa  and  her 
nuns  looked  upon  Anne  as  an  immaculate  saint, 
whose  prayers  and  patronage  brought  the  blessing 
of  Heaven  on  their  house  ;    they  faithfully  kept 
her  secrets  and  performed  her  bidding,  even  when 
such  involved  imminent  risk  to  themselves.     No 
betrayal  or  hostile  witness  ever  confronted  the 
Queen  from  the  Val  de  Grace  ;    and  the  glorious 
and  magnificent  house  which  hereafter  rose  on  the 
foundation  of  the  humble  convent  of  La  Mere 
Luisa,  was  dedicated  by  Anne  of  Austria  as  much 
in  memory  of  the  devoted  fidelity  which  she  had 
there  experienced,  as  a  lofty  monument  of  her  joy 
and  thanksgiving  for  the  birth  of  Louis  XIV. 
The  other  personages,  besides  the  Abbess  Luisa 
and  Mesdames  de  Chevreuse  and  de  Fargis,  at 
this  period  in  the  confidence  of  Queen  Anne,  were 
her    physician,    Vaultier,    and    her    apothecary, 
Michel  Danse.     Vaultier  had  been  for  some  time 
high  in  the  favour  of  Marie  de'  Medici,  who  had 
taken  measures  to  bespeak  for  him  a  cardinal's 
hat.     He  subsequently  passed  from  the  service  of 
Marie  into  that  of  her  daughter-in-law,   Queen 
Anne,  and    became    an    ardent    but  injudicious 
servant  of  the  latter,  entering  into  all  the  petty 
cabals  which    the    ladies  and  women  of  Anne's 
household  raised  against  the  minister.    Amongst 
her  humbler  servants  were  La  Porte,  Lavaux,  his 


174  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1626- 

wife  and  daughter,  a  dresser  named  Catherine, 
and  her  nurse,  Dona  Estafania,  who  wisely  shut 
her  ears  against  insinuations  and  scandals,  and 
consequently  lived  a  life  of  tranquillity. 

The  Duke  of  Orleans,  meantime,  fled  from  the 
kingdom  to  Nancy  ;  so  intense  was  his  resent- 
ment at  the  persistent  opposition  manifested  by 
his  mother  and  the  King  at  his  suit  to  the  Princess 
Marie  de  Gonzague.  Marie  de'  Medici,  during  the 
Italian  campaign,  dominated  in  Paris,  living  for 
the  moment  on  amicable  terms  with  Richelieu's 
beloved  niece,  Madame  de  Combalet,  who  was 
about  to  shine  at  the  Palais  Cardinal  as  Duchess 
d'Aiguillon.  A  glorious  campaign,  which  ter- 
minated by  the  successful  action  of  the  Pas  de 
Susa,  and  the  relief  and  cession  of  Casale  to  the 
French,  rejoiced  the  court  and  nation.  The  King, 
after  installing  the  Marshals  de  Crequi  and  de 
Basso mpierre  over  the  captured  territory,  received 
the  thanks  of  the  Duke  of  Mantua,  and  returned 
to  France  to  carry  on  the  campaign  in  the  South 
for  the  total  reduction  of  the  Huguenot  power. 
The  exploits  of  "  PArmee  de  Valence  "  were  as 
signal  as  those  of  the  division  in  possession  of 
Montferrat.  Town  after  town,  with  but  few 
exceptions,  submitted  to  the  royal  power,  and  was 
graciously  pardoned  for  past  treasons,  though 
deprived  of  treasured  charters  and  religious  ex- 
emptions. Languedoc  submitted  :  the  Duke  de 
Rohan  laid  down  arms,  and  accepted  articles 
signed  at  Alais,  in  which  it  was  stipulated  that  the 
fortifications  of  the  great  Huguenot  strongholds 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  175 

of  Nimes,  Castres,  d'Usez,  and  Montauban,  should 
be  demolished.  The  Huguenots  were  compelled  to 
make  restoration  of  Church  lands  and  benefices 
seized  or  appropriated  by  them  from  the  com- 
mencement of  the  civil  wars  in  1561  ;  all  churches 
were  dedicated  afresh,  and  the  orthodox  service 
re-established.  The  Cardinal  refused  to  receive 
the  petitions  of  the  ministers  of  the  churches  ;  he 
declared  that  he  knew  no  distinction  between  the 
religion  of  any  of  his  Majesty's  subjects  ;  that  all 
should  participate  in  the  paternal  regard  of  the 
government ;  and  no  person  or  sect  be  distin- 
guished, except  for  loyalty  and  devotion  to  the 
glorious  race  of  Bourbon. 

Louis  XIII.,  leaving  his  minister  at  Montauban, 
arrived  at  Fontainebleau  at  the  beginning  of  May 
1629,  where  the  Queens  had  repaired  to  offer  their 
congratulations.  Marie  received  her  son  as  a  hero 
descended  from  Mount  Olympus,  but  the  pouting 
lips  of  Anne  of  Austria  had  no  smiles  for  Louis. 
Her  ironical  salutations,  and  allusion  to  his 
victories  over  Spain  and  the  Empire,  justly  pro- 
voked his  anger,  while  her  dejection,  the  absence 
of  splendour  in  her  attire,  and  the  readiness  with 
which  she  yielded  her  precedence  and  prerogative 
to  Marie  de'  Medici,  excited  the  King's  distrust. 
Anne  ever  thus  let  the  opportunity  slip  to  estab- 
lish ascendency  over  the  mind  of  Louis.  While 
the  Cardinal  dictated  peace  at  Montauban,  she 
should  have  seized  the  moment  to  propitiate  her 
consort,  who  found  the  exigeant  humours  of  the 
Queen-mother  hard  to  endure.  Until  the  return 


176  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1626- 

of  Richelieu,  Louis  found  recreation  in  the  chase. 
He  also  derived  relaxation  from  his  musical  in- 
struments, and  in  setting  verses  to  dreary  tunes 
of  his  own  composition.  The  King  also  found 
amusement  in  carving  wooden  shrines  with  his 
under  secretary,  M.  de  Noyers,  who  excelled  in 
that  art.  Richelieu  at  length  returned  to  receive 
the  congratulations  of  his  royal  master  on  his 
diplomatic  victories  in  the  South.  The  reception 
of  his  Eminence  by  Marie  de'  Medici,  however, 
was  stormy  and  ominous.  Richelieu,  during  his 
sojourn  in  the  South,  had  taken  no  counsel  of  the 
Queen-mother  respecting  his  compact  with  Rohan 
and  his  followers  ;  he  had  even  severely  repri- 
manded Marie  for  her  arbitrary  detention  at 
Vincennes  of  the  Princess  Marie  de  Gonzague  ; 
and  had  sent  an  order  for  the  release  of  the  young 
princess,  at  the  solicitation  of  Monsieur  and  of  her 
cousin-german  the  Duke  de  Longueville.  More- 
over, he  had  blamed  the  conduct  of  Marie  in  other 
matters  relative  to  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  who^, 
while  pretending  to  respond  to  the  overtures  of 
the  King  to  return  from  his  self-inflicted  exile,  had 
stipulated  that  he  should  not  be  required  to  visit 
his  Majesty  until  time  had  allayed  the  acrimony 
of  his  feelings  in  having  been  so  cruelly  thwarted 
in  his  matrimonial  designs.  The  Duke  had  there- 
fore sullenly  retired  to  the  capital  of  his  appanage, 
Orleans.  Richelieu  had  recourse  to  his  usual 
remedy  to  defeat  the  anger  of  the  Queen-mother  ; 
he  pretended  to  be  overwhelmed  with  dismay,  and 
prepared  to  quit  Fontainebleau,  "  as  he  perceived 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  177 

that  his  fate  was  sealed,  and  her  Majesty's  dis- 
pleasure irrevocable."    His  subtle  Eminence  next 
commanded  his  niece,  De  Combalet,  to  resign  her 
office  in  Marie's  household  ;    and  his  cousin,  De 
Meilleraye,  to  tender  his  baton  of  chamberlain. 
The  King,  alarmed  at  these  preparations,  flew  to 
his  mother  and  besought  her  to  pardon  a  delin- 
quent so  submissive.     Marie,  unable  to  resist  the 
entreaties  of  her  King  and  son  ;    and  moved  by 
the  meek  deportment  of  a  minister  whose  power, 
as  she  well  knew,  might,  if  he  chose  to  exert  it, 
prove   irresistible,  consented   to   a   truce.33     The 
winter  of    1629-30,  therefore,   passed  in  stormy 
altercations  and  reconciliations  ;   the  ill-regulated 
temper  of  Queen  Marie  relieving  itself  by  vilifying 
the  Cardinal  in  public,  and  by  accusing  him  to 
the   King  as  a  liar,  a  deceiver  and  an  ingrate. 
"  We  shall  see  M.  le  Cardinal  ere  long  pack  up  his 
baggage  and  decamp,  or  I  shall  quit  the  court !  >: 
M.  Bonnevil,  first  valet  de  chambre  to  her  Majesty, 
represented  that  M.  le  Cardinal  seemed  greatly 
depressed  at  the  report  of  the  depreciating  things 
she  was  constantly  heard  to  utter.    "  M.  le  Car- 
dinal," replied  Marie  de'  Medici,  "  is  elastic,  and 
able  to  adapt  himself  to  any  role  ;  one  minute  his 
spirits  are  joyous,  the  next  he  seems  to  be  half 
dead  :    rising  from  a  poor  little  pitiful  abbe,  see 
how  grandly  he  plays  the  part  of  Eminence  and 
prime  minister  !     He  treats  me,  his  benefactress, 
with  a  more  bitter  hate  than  he  gave  to  M.  de 
Luynes,   and  he  pretends    to    exclude    me,   the 
mother  of  his  King,  from   power  !     Ah  !     M.  le 

M 


178  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1626- 

Cardinal  weeps  his  crocodile  tears  at  pleasure  !  " 
In  such  fashion  did  this  violent  woman  agitate  the 
court.  During  the  winter  season  of  1629  the  cabal 
was  formed  that  nearly  overturned  the  power  of 
Richelieu,  and  which  was  defeated  only  by  his 
own  extraordinary  sagacity,  and  by  the  weakness 
of  Louis  XIII.    Marie  was  the  soul  of  the  cabal ; 
her  Majesty  gathered  round  her,  in  support  of  her 
cause,  and  the  downfall  of  the  insolent  prelate, 
the    Princess    de    Conti,  Marguerite    Louise    de 
Lorraine-Guise,  the  old  friend  of  Henri  Quatre, 
who  was   still  frivolous,  coquettish,  flighty  and 
fascinating — "  la  premiere  dame  qui  a  appris  a 
sa  majeste  Anne  d'Autriche  d'etre  coquette  " — the 
Duke  de  Guise,   Conde,   Monsieur,   the  Duchess 
d'Elboeuf  ;    Marillac,  whose  dismissal  from  office 
had  been  resolved  at  the  Palais  Cardinal ;    the 
Duchess  de  Lesdiguieres,  the  Marshal  de  Bassom- 
pierre,  Mesdames  de  Fargis  and  de  Chevreuse, 
Vaultier,   the   Count   de   Soissons — in   short,   all 
the  influential  malcontents  of  the  realm.     The 
Queens,  moreover,  sought  reconciliation  ;    which 
was  presently  demonstrated  to  the  world  by  the 
frequent    appearance    of   Anne   at   the    Luxem- 
bourg, and  by  Marie's  presence  in  the  saloons  of 
the  Louvre.    The  Cardinal  took  matters  quietly  ; 
he  armed  a  legion  of  spies,  domestic  and  public, 
who  followed  his  foes  to  their  most  private  retire- 
ment ;   and  the  result  of  their  investigations  he 
jotted  down  in  that  amusing  Journal  of  Events,  in 
which  he  records,  apparently  with  naive  surprise, 
the  agencies  employed  for  his  overthrow. 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  179 

Early  in  the  year  1630,  however,  the  note  of 
warfare  again  resounded.  Spain  refused  to  ratify 
the  concession  made  by  Don  Gonzalez  de  Cordova, 
Viceroy  of  Milan,  and  agreed  to  by  the  Duke  of 
Savoy  ;  and  her  armies,  under  the  famous  Mar- 
quis de  Spinola,  marched  to  invest  the  fortress  of 
Casale,  which  was  still  garrisoned  by  French 
troops  under  the  Marshal  de  Crequi ;  while  Count 
Colalto  besieged  Mantua.  Richelieu  was  prepared 
for  a  campaign,  which  he  had  foreseen  :  the 
triumph  of  the  Emperor  over  his  revolted  Bo- 
hemian subjects — who  had  thrown  off  their 
allegiance  and  elected  for  their  King  the  Pro- 
testant brother-in-law  of  King  Charles  of  England, 
the  Elector  Palatine — had  inspired  his  Imperial 
Majesty  with  the  notion  that  his  army  was  invin- 
cible, and  would  soon  sweep  Montferrat  of  her 
Gallic  invaders.  The  gallant  veterans  of  Susa  and 
of  La  Rochelle,  and  of  many  a  hard-contested 
siege  in  the  South,  rose  again  to  arms  at  the  call 
of  their  King  ;  and  Louis  soon  saw  himself  at  the 
head  of  a  fine  army,  every  soldier  of  which  longed 
to  fly  to  the  rescue  of  his  countrymen  beleaguered 
by  the  hated  Spaniards  in  Casale.  For  the  mo- 
ment political  feuds  were  forgotten j  and  every 
class  in  the  realm  acquiesced  in  the  wise  and 
able  mandates  of  the  minister.  The  King  in- 
sisted on  assuming  the  conduct  of  the  war ;  an 
enthusiasm,  nevertheless,  partly  kindled  by  the 
warlike  counsels  of  Richelieu,  who  descried  less 
danger  in  being  followed  to  the  camp  by  the  King 
than  in  leaving  Louis  exposed  to  the  hostile 


180  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1626- 

influences  of  the  Louvre.  His  Majesty  quitted 
Paris  and  arrived  at  Lyons,  accompanied  by  the 
Queens,34  about  the  3rd  of  April ;  from  thence 
Louis  proceeded  to  join  the  camp  at  Grenoble, 
after  making  a  short  sojourn  in  the  district  of  the 
Lyonnais.  Richelieu,  meantime,  had  been  negoti- 
ating with  the  Duke  of  Savoy  ;  overtures  which 
resulted  in  nothing,  and  which  were  terminated  by 
the  sudden  advance  of  part  of  the  royal  army  to 
besiege  Pignerol.  His  Eminence,  however,  quitted 
the  camp,  and  journeyed  to  meet  the  King  at 
Grenoble,  attended  by  Giulio  Mazarin — after- 
wards the  famous  Cardinal  of  that  name — who 
had  been  sent  by  the  Pope  on  a  secret  mission  to 
negotiate  an  armistice  between  the  Powers.  From 
Grenoble,  Richelieu  travelled  to  Lyons  to  salute 
the  Queen-mother,  and  to  test  his  favour  in  the 
capricious  esteem  of  Marie.  He  found  her  Majesty 
more  hostile  than  ever,  and  surrounded  by  his 
hottest  foes,  such  as  Beringhen,  Vaultier  and 
others,  and  especially  the  Lord  Keeper  Marillac. 
In  noting  this  last  fact,  Richelieu,  in  his  Journal, 
adds  the  significant  line, 

"Qui  amat  periculum,  peribit  in  illo."  35 

On  the  occasion  of  this  visit,  Mazarin  first  bent  the 
knee  before  Anne  of  Austria,  being  presented  to 
her  by  Richelieu,  with  the  following  insolent  words 
— "  Madame,  I  present  to  you  the  Sieur  Giulio 
Mazarin  ;  your  Majesty  will  doubtless  approve  of 
this  sagacious  personage  ;  as  he,  an  agent  of  his 
Holiness,  bears,  as  you  perceive,  a  strong  resem- 
blance to  the  late  Duke  of  Buckingham."36  Anne 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  181 

blushed,  and  unfurled  her  fan  to  cover  her  con- 
fusion. 

Chambery,  meantime,  capitulated  to  the  royal 
arms  during  the  sojourn  of  the  Cardinal  at  Lyons, 
much  to  the  secret  triumph  of  Louis.  The  cam- 
paign in  Savoy  prospered ;  place  after  place 
surrendered,  as  during  the  previous  invasion  of 
the  duchy  by  Henri  Quatre.  The  health  of  the 
King,  however,  gave  way  before  the  excitement 
and  fatigue  to  which  he  was  exposed.  He  fell  ill 
at  St.  Jean  de  Maurienne  ;  from  which  place  his 
Majesty,  at  the  earnest  entreaty  of  his  physicians, 
returned  to  Lyons,  leaving  the  further  conduct  of 
the  war  to  Richelieu,  Schomberg,  Crequi,  and  Bas- 
sompierre.  Louis'  disorder  was  bilious  fever  of 
very  aggravated  description.  The  weakness  and 
depression  of  the  King  increased  ;  and  Marie  de' 
Medici  beheld  her  son  restored,  as  she  hoped,  to 
her  maternal  influence.  Melancholy,  irritable  at 
the  slightest  proposal  to  discuss  or  transact  state 
affairs  ;  anxious  alone  for  conference  with  his 
confessor,  the  venerable  Pere  Souffran  ;  and  lured 
only  to  momentary  forgetfulness  of  his  misery 
by  the  blue  eyes  of  Marie  de  Hautefort,  Louis 
was  ready  to  agree  to  any  stipulation  or  conces- 
sion rather  than  debate  a  point.37  The  hopes  of 
Richelieu's  enemies  therefore  revived ;  the  cabal 
rallied,  and  letters  of  counsel  and  entreaty 
poured  upon  the  Queens,  that  they  should  now 
exert  their  united  powers  of  persuasion  to  exact 
from  the  King  a  lettre  de  cachet  forbidding  the 
return  of  Richelieu  to  court ^  and  decreeing  his 


182  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1626- 

banishment  from  the  realm.  Anne  entered  with 
eagerness  into  the  conspiracy,  and  constantly 
discussed  its  details  with  the  Queen-mother  and 
with  Vaultier  and  those  interested  in  the  down- 
fall of  the  minister.  The  principal  persons  in 
the  secret  were  the  Princess  de  Conty,  the  Lord 
Keeper  Marillac,  the  Duchesses  d'Elboeuf 38  and 
d'Ornano,39  the  Duchess  de  Lesdiguieres,  Madame 
de  Fargis,  Bassompierre,  and  the  Due  de  Guise 
and  his  consort  Henriette,  heiress  of  the  house 
of  Joyeuse.  The  Duke  of  Orleans  was  also  con- 
sulted ;  and  an  active  correspondence  was  again 
imprudently  instituted  between  the  young  Queen 
and  Monsieur.  The  Spanish  ambassador,  like- 
wise, seems  to  have  advised  Anne  to  enter  again 
on  the  perilous  course  of  intrigue  which  had 
already  entailed  such  degradation  on  the  royal 
dignity.  As  the  King's  malady  increased,  the 
spirit  of  the  caballers  became  sanguine,  and  they 
proceeded  to  discuss  not  only  the  removal  of 
Richelieu  from  office,  but  whether  his  high  mis- 
demeanors did  not  merit  retribution.  Monsieur 
counselled  the  arrest  of  his  Eminence,  in  which 
opinion  he  seems  to  have  consulted  the  wishes 
of  Marie  de'  Medici ;  others  proposed  that  he 
should  be  assassinated  in  camp  ;  another  pro- 
posal was,  that  the  person  of  his  Eminence  should 
be  made  over  to  the  Spanish  government,  to  be 
transported  to  one  of  Philip's  colonies  of  the  New 
World !  Madame  de  Fargis,  meantime,  was  em- 
ployed by  the  Queen  to  write  epistles  and  to  con- 
vey messages.  Anne's  animosity  against  the 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  183 

Cardinal  is  described  as  unsurpassed  by  that  of 
his  most  bitter  political  opponent.  By  the  advice, 
it  is  said,  of  Madame  de  Fargis,  prompted  by 
Mirabel  the  Spanish  ambassador,  Anne  was  reck- 
less enough  to  consent  again  to  the  discussion  of 
the  policy  of  her  marriage  with  Monsieur,  in  case 
of  the  speedy  decease  of  Louis.40  Madame  de 
Fargis,  at  any  rate,  was  a  party  to  this  correspond- 
ence ;  as  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  project  was 
again  submitted  to  Monsieur,  with  the  assent  and 
full  knowledge  of  Anne  of  Austria.  The  prospect 
of  being  deprived  of  the  queenly  diadem  of  France 
had  inexpressible  bitterness  for  Anne  of  Austria, 
who  certainly  had  no  reason  to  review  either  with 
pleasure  or  with  triumph  the  events  of  her 
married  life.  In  this  interval  she  had  suffered  as 
a  princess  and  a  wife  ;  her  husband  had  openly 
showed  alienation  and  dislike — wrongs,  she  had 
attempted  to  avenge  by  culpable  intrigues  which 
had  heaped  upon  her  disgrace  and  privations. 
The  crown  matrimonial  of  France,  however, 
seems  to  have  borne  a  superlative  charm  for  all 
the  princesses  of  Hapsburg,  and  they  clung  to  its 
glittering  honours  amid  contumely  and  neglect. 
Eleanor  of  Austria,  Elizabeth  of  Austria,  Anne  of 
Austria,  Marie  Theresa  of  Austria,  and  Marie 
Antoinette  of  Austria,  were  women,  all  distin- 
guished for  personal  and  mental  charms  ;  but 
their  married  life  was  fraught  with  domestic  and 
political  misfortune  ;  and  they  failed  personally 
to  adapt  themselves,  either  to  the  sovereigns 
their  respective  husbands,  or  to  the  manners  and 


184  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1626- 

traditions  of  the  land  of  their  adoption.     In  the 
case  of  Anne  of  Austria,  absolute  dislike  existed 
between  Louis  XIII.  and  herself,  in  addition  to 
the  absence  of  personal  sympathies  and  pursuits. 
The  Queen  had  many  undoubted  grievances  to 
suffer  from  the  frigid,  imperious  and  vacillating 
temper    of    her   consort,    and    from   his  almost 
ludicrous  dread  of  dictation,  to  which,  however, 
no  man  could  have  been  more  subject.     She  saw 
her  personal  charms  despised,41   and   her  society 
avoided ;    her    pecuniary  means  were  curtailed 
from  dread  of  the  power  which  the  command  of 
money  would  have  given  her   to   intrigue  with 
foreign  courts.    To  avenge  herself  for  her  priva- 
tions and  want  of  influence,  Anne  had  recklessly 
sullied  her  royal  dignity  :    her  adventures  with 
Buckingham  resounded  throughout  Europe,  and 
her  connivance  in  the  conspiracy  of  Chalais  had 
greatly  redounded  to  her  discredit ;  while  it  must 
be    confessed    that    few    husbands    could    have 
pardoned  the  treachery  and  indelicacy   of    her 
overtures  to  Monsieur  in  case  of  her  own  widow- 
hood and  his  accession  to  the  throne  of  France. 

The  precarious  condition  of  Louis'  health  re- 
newed Anne's  political  anxieties.  On  the  30th 
of  the  month  of  September  1630,  the  disease 
presented  so  unfavourable  an  aspect  that  his 
Majesty's  physicians  gave  up  their  hope  of  saving 
his  life.  An  abscess  had  formed  on  the  liver  ;  the 
sufferings  of  Louis  were  intense,  and  his  strength 
rapidly  failed.  Marie  de'  Medici  never  left  the 
bedside  of  the  King  except  when  he  was  engaged 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  185 

with  Souffran,  his  confessor.42  During  the  inter- 
vals of  his  relief  from  pain,  Marie  extorted  from 
the  King  a  solemn  promise,  or,  as  is  stated  by 
some  contemporaries,  his  oath,  that  in  case  of  his 
recovery  he  would  dismiss  Richelieu.  Anne  also 
showed  herself  assiduous  in  the  sick  chamber. 
On  the  1st  of  October  the  physicians  informed  the 
King  that  his  recovery  was  hopeless.  Louis  re- 
ceived the  tidings  with  resignation,  and  requested 
the  sacraments  of  the  Church.  Mass  was  cele- 
brated by  the  Cardinal  de  Lyons,  in  the  presence 
of  the  Queens ; 43  at  the  end  of  the  service  Louis 
caused  himself  to  be  raised  on  his  couch,  and 
addressing  those  present,  said :  "I  grieve  that  I 
am  too  weak  to  speak  to  you  all — I  can  only  ask 
you  to  pardon  any  wrong  that  I  have  committed. 
I  wish  the  same  prayer  to  be  made  to  all  my 
subjects.  Le  Pere  Souffran  will  tell  you  all  that  I 
would  add,  if  strength  permitted  me."  44  He  then 
beckoned  to  the  Queen  to  approach  his  bed,  when 
he  bade  Anne  farewell  and  embraced  her.  All 
persons  then  retired,  leaving  the  King  with  his 
surgeons  and  his  confessor.  The  Queens  betook 
themselves,  as  it  was  said,  to  prayer  ;  Marie  de' 
Medici  especially  professing  to  be  overwhelmed 
with  grief  and  consternation. 

On  this  day  Bassompierre  returned  from  a 
special  mission  to  Monsieur  at  Orleans,  and  ob- 
tained immediate  audience  of  the  Queens,  Anne 
and  Marie.  The  Marshal  brought  messages  from 
Monsieur  to  his  mother,  referring  to  the  measures 
which  he  considered  advisable  in  case  of  the 


186  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1626- 

demise    of    Louis,    and    of    his    own    accession. 
Amongst  other  directions,  Marie  was  instructed  to 
command  the  arrest  of  the  Cardinal  minister  ; 
who  was  known  to  be  on  his  road  from  the  camp 
to  Lyons — a  journey  which  he  had  undertaken 
after  receiving  certain  intelligence   of  the   pre- 
carious condition  of  the  King.     What  message 
Bassompierre  was  intrusted  with  to  Queen  Anne 
never  transpired ;    Monsieur  had  a  salutary  re- 
membrance of  the  peril  incurred  in  the  affair  of 
Chalais,  and  seems  to  have  coldly  responded  to 
her  Majesty's  overtures.     Indeed,  Anne  had  lost 
much  in  his  regard  and  esteem  by  her  late  per- 
tinacious opposition  to  his  union  with  Marie  de 
Gonzague.  Richelieu,  meantime,  had  been  warned 
of  the  intrigues  concocting  against  his  power,  and 
perhaps  against  his  life,  by  the  zeal  of  M.  de  St. 
Simon,45  a  gentleman  whom  he  had  a  little  time 
previously  recommended  for  service  in  the  royal 
household   on   the     displacement   of   personages 
which  occurred  after  the  execution  of  Chalais. 
This  St.  Simon  had  quietly  insinuated  himself  in 
the   good  graces   of  Louis,   by  his   modest   de- 
meanour and   apparent   indifference  to  politics. 
"  On  my  arrival  in  Paris  from  my  English  am- 
bassage,"    writes    Bassompierre,    in    1627,     "  I 
found  that  Barradas46  had  been  dismissed,  and 
that  his  place  [in  the  King's  chamber]  was  given 
to  a  young  boy  of  pitiful  aspect,  and  still  more 
sorry  wit,  of  the  name  of  St.  Simon."   "  You  have 
heard  that  Barradas  has  been  dismissed,"  writes 
the  poet  Malherbe,  December  19,   1627 ;    "we 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  187 

have  in  his  place  a  Sieur  de  St.  Simon.  The  King 
presented  him  on  Wednesday  last  to  the  Queen 
his  mother  ;  he  is  a  young  boy  of  eighteen."  The 
King  first  showed  favour  to  St.  Simon  because  the 
latter  brought  him  accurate  news  of  the  hunts 
holden  on  the  royal  domain  ;  and  he  was  also  a 
good  rider,  and  was  careful  of  his  Majesty's 
horses.  St.  Simon,  who  possessed  the  shrewd 
discrimination  which  distinguished  his  celebrated 
son,  perceiving  that  his  fortune  rested  neither  in 
the  hands  of  the  Queens,  nor  even  in  the  favour  of 
his  royal  master,  attached  himself  to  Richelieu, 
and  served  the  minister  by  the  accuracy  of  his 
reports  and  the  vigilance  of  his  warnings.  From 
the  latter,  therefore,  Richelieu  received  report 
of  the  activity  of  the  cabal  plotting  his  over- 
throw, and  immediately  set  out  to  confront  and 
neutralize  the  danger.  Orders  had  been  issued 
by  Marie  de'  Medici  to  refuse  entrance  into  the 
King's  chamber  to  M.  le  Cardinal.  On  Richelieu's 
arrival  in  Lyons,  however,  one  of  those  miraculous 
revivals  had  occurred  in  the  condition  of  the 
King  which  had  so  often  destroyed  the  projects 
of  Monsieur  and  his  clique.  Louis  peremptorily 
asked  to  see  his  minister,  of  whose  presence  in 
Lyons  he  was  apprised  by  St.  Simon  and  by  his 
confessor  Souffran.47  The  unexpected  turn  in  the 
King's  malady  caused  great  affright  and  con- 
sternation, and  a  conference  wras  holden  in  the 
chamber  of  Marie  de'  Medici  to  decide  on  the 
steps  to  be  adopted.  The  Queen-mother  dwelt 
on  the  solemn  promise  made  her  by  the  King  to 


188  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1626- 

dismiss  his  minister — Louis  having  stipulated 
only,  that  peace  might  first  be  re-established  in 
Germany  ;  also  between  France  and  the  Empire, 
by  the  concession  of  the  rights  of  the  Duke  of 
Mantua.  The  Marshal  de  Marillac,  nevertheless, 
advised  that  the  death  of  the  minister  should  now 
be  compassed,  and  offered  to  strike  the  blow  ;  his 
brother,  the  Lord  Keeper,  counselled  the  Car- 
dinal's immediate  exile  to  his  diocese  of  Lu£on  ; 
Bassompierre  his  arrest  and  imprisonment  in  the 
Bastille  ;  the  Queen-mother  declared  herself  in 
favour  of  a  sentence  of  banishment ;  an  award 
stated  to  be  likewise  approved  by  the  Duke  of 
Orleans.  Anne  demanded  the  exile  of  the  minister, 
whom  she  denounced  as  the  great  obstacle  to  a 
cordial  understanding  between  the  courts  of 
France  and  Spain.48  This  conference  was  scarcely 
over  before  all  its  details  were  fully  known  to 
Richelieu  ;  and  afterwards,  in  the  coming  period 
of  his  unquestioned  power,  he  is  said  to  have  re- 
taliated on  the  wily  plotters  their  own  award  on 
himself.  The  same  evening  the  King  passed 
through  another  dangerous  crisis  of  his  malady, 
and  for  some  hours  all  again  was  agitation  and 
panic.  Believing  that  his  end  approached,  Louis 
sent  his  confessor,  Souffran,  to  his  consort,  to  ask 
in  his  name  pardon  for  all  the  trials  and  possible 
provocations  of  her  married  life.  "  But  this 
august  princess,"  records  the  venerable  father, 
"  took  to  weeping  and  shrieking49  in  such  frantic 
emotion,  when  I  opened  my  mission,  and  seemed 
on  the  point  of  fainting,  so  that  I  could  not 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  189 

conclude  all  that  I  wished  to  impart  to  her  Majesty. 
Prayers  were  diligently  offered  for  the  King's  re- 
covery night  and  day  ;  and  the  Holy  Sacrament 
was  exposed  on  the  altars  of  all  the  churches  in 
Lyons."  Anne's  hysterical  tears  doubtless  flowed 
from  extreme  suspense,  and  from  the  agony  of 
fear  which  assailed  her  at  the  presence  of  the 
minister  ;  being  conscious  of  the  equivocal  char- 
acter of  her  correspondence  with  M.  d'Orleans. 
The  same  evening,  and  during  a  paroxysm  of  the 
King's  disorder,  when  all  persons  present  round 
his  Majesty's  couch  believed  that  respiration  so 
laboured  must  soon  cease,  Richelieu  sent  for 
Bassompierre,  who  was  colonel  of  the  Swiss 
guards,  and  humbly  requested  him  to  bring  over 
the  officers  of  that  regiment  to  his  service,  so 
that  in  the  event  of  the  King's  death  he  might 
reckon  on  a  faithful  military  escort  -to  the 
frontier.60  The  Cardinal  wept  and  assumed  his 
most  beseeching  demeanour.  Bassompierre,  as 
indeed  it  was  his  duty  to  do,  listened  with  gravity; 
and  replied,  that  his  oath  of  fealty  forbade  him  to 
divert  the  services  of  the  royal  guards,  even  for  a 
temporary  purpose  ;  but  that  M.  le  Cardinal,  in 
the  event  which  he  anticipated,  must  submit 
himself  to  Queen  Marie  de'  Medici,  who,  he  was 
informed,  would  assume  the  direction  of  affairs 
until  the  arrival  of  the  new  king  from  Orleans.61 
Richelieu  dismissed  the  Marshal  with  a  little 
salutation  full  of  resignation,  and  prepared  him- 
self for  the  coming  event.  His  niece,  Madame  de 
Combalet,  quitted  Lyons  during  the  night,  taking 


190  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1626- 

with  her  many  valuable  effects  appertaining  to 
her  uncle,  while  the  Cardinal  himself  made  rapid 
preparation  for  flight.  Every  one  avoided  the 
fallen  minister  excepting  the  newly  married 
Duchess  de  Bouillon,  sister  of  the  late  Constable 
de  Luynes,  who  offered  to  Richelieu  the  shelter 
of  her  husband's  stronghold  of  Sedan.  At  six 
o'clock  on  the  following  morning  the  bells  of  all 
the  churches  of  the  town  rang  jubilant  peals ;  the 
altars  were  adorned,  and  the  gorgeous  aisles  of  St. 
Jean  de  Lyons  at  mid-day  echoed  to  the  notes  of 
"  Te  Deum  Laudamus  " — the  night  of  suspense 
was  passed,  and  Louis  le  Juste  was  restored  to 
his  people  !  The  breaking  of  another  internal 
tumour  had  brought  the  King  to  the  verge  of  the 
tomb  ;  but  Louis  slowly  revived  from  the  deep 
syncope  of  exhaustion,  feeble  but  free  from  pain, 
and  comforted  by  the  favourable  verdict  of  his 
physicians,  who  now  answered  for  the  life  of  their 
royal  patient.62  The  court  at  Lyons  fell  again  at 
the  feet  of  Richelieu  ;  the  Queens  nursed  their 
wrath,  and  took  comfort  in  the  solemn  pledge 
which  they  had  extorted.  A  dreadful  misgiving, 
however,  seized  the  young  Queen,  that  possibly 
the  Cardinal  was  in  possession  of  the  secret  of  her 
correspondence  with  Monsieur,  which  knowledge 
he  might  impart  to  the  King.  The  recovery  of 
Louis  was  marvellously  rapid  ;  on  the  14th  of 
October  he  removed  for  change  of  air  to  the 
Chateau  de  Bellecour,63  near  to  Roanne,  and  soon 
continued  his  journey  to  Paris.  Marie,  meantime, 
had  been  laid  up  for  a  few  days  at  Lyons  with  a 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  191 

swelled  knee,  and  did  not  accompany  her  son  to 
Bellecour.     Louis  had  urgently  prayed  his  mother 
to  hide  their  determination  to  dispense  with  the 
Cardinal's  services,  until  after  the  arrival  of  the 
court  in  Paris.    The  King  piqued  himself  on  his 
powers  of  dissimulation,  and  was  even  proud  to 
be  compared  in  crafty  address  to  Charles  IX. 
Richelieu,   under  pretext  of  state  business,   re- 
mained  with   the    Queens,    and    even    attended 
them  to  Paris,  travelling  in  the  same  boat ;  so 
important  did  the  Cardinal  deem  it  to  prevent 
further  communications  between  Anne  and  the 
Duke  of  Orleans.      The  personage  who  at  this 
period  played  the  part  of  spy  in  the  household 
of  the  young  Queen  does  not  appear  ;   probably 
the  Cardinal's  agent  was  Madame   de   la  Flotte 
Hauterive,  a  lady  who,  by  dint  of  solicitation,  and 
by  the  bright  eyes  of  her  grand-daughter,  Marie 
de  Hautefort,  had  recently  succeeded  in  obtaining 
her  nomination  as  gouvernante  of  Queen  Anne's 
maids  of  honour.54    Madame  de  la  Flotte  origin- 
ally had  visited  Paris  to  sue  in  person  a  cause 
pending  before  the  Parliament  of  Paris,  which 
involved  the  whole  of  her  little  patrimony.     She 
waited  upon  the  powerful  minister,  authorised  by 
a  passport  to  his  presence  from  Madame  de  Com- 
balet   and  accompanied  by  her  grand-daughter. 
The  acute  powers  of  observation  and  of  resolve 
possessed  by  his  petitioner  were  not  lost  on  the 
Cardinal ;    the    charming    face    and    dignity    of 
demeanour    of   the  young  girl,   her  companion, 
confirmed  Richelieu's  prepossession.     The  widow 


192  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1626- 

quitted  the  presence  of  his  Eminence  flattered, 
and  moved  by  strange  ambitious  anticipations. 
The  suit  was  in  the  course  of  a  few  days  decided 
in  her  favour,  and  Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort 
was  presented  by  Madame  de  Combalet  to  the 
Princess  de  Conty,  who,  captivated  by  her  lovely 
face,  took  her  that  same  evening  in  her  coach  to 
the  fashionable  promenade,  Le  Cours  de  la  Reine, 
and  introduced  her  to  the  Queen-mother.  Marie 
de  Hautefort  was  subsequently  enrolled  amongst 
Marie's  maids,  and  was  lodged  in  the  Luxem- 
bourg, while  her  grandmother,  who  was  still 
handsome,  entered  the  service  of  the  politic 
minister,  and  was  eventually  placed  by  him  in 
the  Louvre  in  the  important,  though  subordinate, 
office  of  governess  of  the  maids  of  honour  of  her 
Majesty  Queen  Anne. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  Queens  in  Paris,65  the 
hostile  cabal  eagerly  greeted  their  Majesties,  who 
returned  triumphant  in  the  possession  of  the 
King's  promise  to  exile  his  minister.  The  peace, 
meantime,  upon  which  Louis  had  based  his  assent, 
was  on  the  eve  of  accomplishment.  The  French 
envoys,  le  Pere  Joseph  and  M.  de  Brulart,  wrung 
from  the  fears  of  the  Emperor  a  recognition  of  the 
rights  of  the  Duke  de  Nevers  to  the  ducal  throne 
of  Mantua.  On  the  13th  of  October  1630,  the 
treaty  was  signed  between  his  Imperial  Majesty 
Ferdinand  II.  and  the  King  of  France  in  the  town 
of  Ratisbon.  Casale  was  ceded  to  the  Duke  of 
Mantua,  and  was  to  be  evacuated  by  the  Spanish 
garrison ;  and  the  King  engaged  no  longer  to 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  193 

oppose  the  election  of  the  Imperial  prince  as  King 
of  the  Romans  ;  or  to  sanction  the  designs  of 
Gustavus  Adolphus  King  of  Sweden,  who,  in 
alliance  with  the  deposed  Elector  Palatine  King 
of  Bohemia  and  other  Protestant  princes  of 
Germany,  threatened  the  empire  with  sanguinary 
warfare.  The  reluctance  of  the  King  to  disgrace 
his  minister,  nevertheless,  was  manifest ;  in  the 
course  of  a  few  weeks,  Richelieu's  ascendency 
had  been  confirmed,  and  the  bewilderment  of 
the  King  amid  the  accumulations  of  state  busi- 
ness accruing  on  the  termination  of  the  war, 
was  painfully  conspicuous.  The  Queen-mother, 
meantime,  continued  to  besiege  the  King  with 
reproaches  for  his  tardy  fulfilment  of  his  solemn 
promise.  In  vain  Louis  sought  to  pacify  his 
mother,  and  to  persuade  her  even  into  a  tem- 
porary reconciliation  with  the  Cardinal.  He  ex- 
plained the  urgency  of  his  affairs,  the  dearth  of 
able  statesmen,  his  own  fears  and  presentiments  ; 
and  finally,  implored  her  to  pardon  Richelieu,  to 
accept  a  seat  in  the  council  of  state,  and  to  act  in 
conjunction  with  a  prelate  so  shrewd,  faithful  and 
competent  to  exalt  the  nation  and  to  maintain 
the  royal  prerogatives.  Marie  responded  to  her 
son's  appeal  by  a  rude  negative  :  "  Either  M.  le 
Cardinal  leaves  the  court,  or  I  abandon  your 
Majesty  !  What !  you  hesitate  to  give  this  just 
satisfaction  to  your  mother,  and  prefer  an  insolent 
churchman,  who  will  finally  drive  your  people 
to  revolt,  as  he  has  already  rendered  your  court 
a  desert  ?  " "  The  young  Queen  added  her 


194  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1626- 

entreaties,  and  besought  her  husband  to  conciliate 
the  Princes,  to  give  due  preponderance  to  the 
Queen  his  mother,  and  to  reconcile  himself  sin- 
cerely with  the  king  her  brother  and  with  M. 
d' Orleans, — all  which  might  be  achieved  by  the 
disgrace  of  M.  le  Cardinal.  Richelieu,  meantime, 
conducted  himself  with  consummate  prudence. 
He  sent  his  niece  from  Paris,  and  commanded 
that  his  most  valuable  effects  in  the  Palais  Car- 
dinal should  be  packed ;  while  he  constantly 
alluded  in  public  to  his  probable  departure,  and 
dismissal  from  office  ;  and  made  parade  of  re- 
commending certain  persons,  whose  abilities,  he 
thought,  might  serve  the  state,  to  the  various 
chiefs  over  departments  of  the  government. 
Daily  he  presented  himself  in  the  antechamber  of 
Marie  de'  Medici,  and  of  Anne  of  Austria.  The 
doors  of  the  Luxembourg  Palace  were  closed 
against  him  ;  the  young  Queen,  however — moved 
perhaps  by  her  dread  of  what  the  Cardinal  might 
betray — granted  him  occasional  audience.  The 
meek  deportment  of  his  minister  touched  the 
King — most  vividly,  perhaps,  when  Richelieu 
presented  himself  in  the  royal  closet  laden  with 
state  papers,  despatches,  minutes  from  the  pro- 
vinces, reports  from  the  disaffected  districts  of  the 
realm,  ecclesiastical  edicts,  and  summaries  of  the 
doings  of  those  encroaching  personages,  MM.  de  la 
Cour  du  Parlement ;  all  of  which  he  now  made 
parade  of  laying  before  his  royal  master  for 
perusal  and  signature.  Louis  yawned,  and  irri- 
tably pushed  aside  the  obnoxious  documents.  On 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  195 

one  of  these  occasions  he  beckoned  to  his  new 
favourite  St.   Simon,   who  was  occupied  in  the 
antechamber   in  finishing    off  a  trifling  toy  put 
together  by  the  King.     Louis  rose  from  his  chair, 
and,    followed    by    St.    Simon,    approached    the 
window.    "  Let  us  stay  here  in  peace  awhile,"  said 
his  Majesty  listlessly,   "  et  puis   ennuyons-nous, 
ennuyons-nous,  ennuyons-nous  !  " 57  Fresh  political 
complications  menaced  the  newly-signed  peace  of 
Ratisbon,  raised  by  the  clever  Richelieu  and  his 
clever  agent  the  Capuchin  Joseph.    The  spirit  of 
Louis  died  within  him  at  the  bare  contemplation 
of  the  diplomacy  and  intrigue    impending ;    to 
vanquish  which,  as  Richelieu  made  his  Majesty 
clearly  understand,  his  own  services,  or  those  of 
Marie  de'  Medici  and  her   son   d' Orleans,  were 
indispensable.     On   the   9th  day   of  November, 
therefore,  his  Majesty  paid  an  early  visit  to  the 
Luxembourg,  to    explain    to    the  Queen-mother 
his  political  necessities,  his  personal  wishes,  and, 
above  all,  to  intimate  his  determination  respecting 
his  minister.     He  found  the  Queen  more  irate  than 
ever   against   the   Cardinal,  and  incensed  at  his 
dissensions  with  the  Lord-Keeper  Marillac,  which 
betokened  the  prompt  dismissal  of  that  function- 
ary.    She  declared  Richelieu  to  be  an  unprin- 
cipled trickster,  the  hollowness  of  whose  apparent 
devotion  to  herself  she  could  no  longer  doubt. 
Louis  listened  to  her  Majesty's  tirades  in  sullen 
silence,  utterly  confounded  by  Marie's  passion  and 
vehemence.  ' '  This  said  Cardinal  lies  in  word  and 
deed.     Has  he  not  written  to  our  son  d'Orleans, 


196  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1626- 

that  if  he  will  abandon  our  interests,  his  political 
grievances  shall  be  redressed  ?  Has  he  not  written 
to  Messieurs  de  Vendome  that  we  desire  their 
eternal  captivity  ?  M.  le  Prince,  also,  has  been 
informed  by  this  mendacious  slanderer,  that  our 
enmity  is  the  cause  of  his  continued  exile." 58 
Whilst  their  Majesties  were  thus  in  high  alterca- 
tion, Richelieu  arrived  at  the  Luxembourg.  His 
opportune  visit  had  doubtless  been  concerted 
with  the  King,  who  had  commanded  him  to 
make  every  submission  requisite  to  pacify  Queen 
Marie.  The  ushers  on  duty  had  refused,  as  usual, 
to  pass  his  Eminence  on  to  the  royal  cabinet.  The 
Cardinal,  however,  went  to  the  chapel,  and  from 
thence  boldly  traversed  the  private  corridor  which 
led  to  the  Queen's  apartments,  and  thus  gained 
access  to  the  room  in  which  Marie  and  her  son 
were  conferring.59  The  Cardinal  rapped  at  the 
door,  which  was  opened  by  the  King,  who  took 
the  hand  of  his  minister,  and  presented  him  to 
Queen  Marie.  "  Madame,  you  were  speaking  of 
me,  your  humble  servant,  who  deprecates  your 
anger  and  prays  for  pardon."  Marie,  with  a 
gesture  of  disdain,  turned  from  the  Cardinal,  who 
had  fallen  on  his  knees  at  her  feet.  "  Behold,  mon 
fils,  this  wicked  and  false  traitor  !  His  intention  is 
to  take  your  crown,  and  give  it  to  M.  le  Comte  de 
Soissons,  when  the  latter  shall  have  espoused  la 
Veuve  Combalet !  Are  you  unnatural  and  un- 
dutiful  enough  to  prefer  such  a  varlet  to  your 
mother  ?  Sire,  spurn  from  you  this  destroyer  of 
your  domestic  concord,  the  bitter  foe  of  your 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  197 

mother,  your  wife,  and  your  brother  !  "  As  the 
Queen-mother  had  now  worked  herself  into  an 
extremity  of  passion,  Louis  retired  ;  but  made  a 
sign  to  the  Cardinal  to  remain.60  Richelieu  again 
tried  to  deprecate  the  wrath  of  his  once  confiding 
patroness,  but  Marie  drove  him  from  her 
presence  with  reproaches  and  by  protestations  of 
never-ending  enmity.  The  same  evening  Louis 
again  sought  his  mother  and  found  her  in  con- 
ference with  the  Princess  de  Conty,61  a  determined 
opponent  of  Richelieu's  policy.  A  second  parley 
ensued,  in  which  the  King  was  so  moved  by  the 
tears  and  entreaties  of  his  mother,  that  he  again 
solemnly  renewed  his  promise  to  dismiss  Riche- 
lieu. His  Majesty  then  retired,  announcing  his 
intention  to  depart  for  Versailles,  from  which 
palace  a  letter  of  dismissal  and  exile  should  be 
addressed  to  the  minister. 

Meantime  panic  prevailed  amongst  the  friends 
and  adherents  of  Richelieu.  That  much-enduring 
lady,  Madame  de  Combalet,  again  received  notice 
to  pack  up  her  effects,  and  await  the  final  resolu- 
tion of  her  uncle,  who  contemplated  a  retreat  to 
Pontoise,  and  from  thence  to  Havre  de  Grace. 
The  following  day  the  King  made  fresh  efforts  to 
subdue  the  obduracy  of  the  Queen-mother.  He 
prayed  her  to  consent  that  the  presidency  of  the 
council  might  at  least  remain  with  the  minister 
for  six  weeks  longer.  "  My  affairs  absolutely  de- 
mand this  concession.  In  fact,  Madame,  I  have 
commanded  my  generals  in  Italy  to  hazard  a 
battle  if  Casale  is  not  surrendered,  as  stipulated 


198  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1626- 

by  the  peace  of  Ratisbon."  Marie  wept,  but  made 
no  sign  of  relenting.  "  Madame,"  resumed  his 
Majesty,  eloquent  in  the  defence  of  a  minister  who 
monopolized  all  the  toils  of  government,  "  Ma- 
dame, I  entreat  that,  at  least  for  this  period,  you 
will  speak  more  condescendingly  to  M.  le  Car- 
dinal ;  in  truth,  he  is  indispensable  to  me  ;  you 
are  too  prejudiced,  too  violent.  M.  le  Cardinal 
serves  me  faithfully.  I  shall  never  recover  from 
the  grief  and  chagrin  which  you  occasion  me  !  " 
Marie,  however,  refused  to  listen  to  her  son's 
expostulations  ;  and  peremptorily  insisted  on  the 
departure  of  the  minister.  "  Mon  fils,"  said  her 
Majesty,  "  either  the  Cardinal  or  I  myself  leave 
Paris  within  the  next  few  hours.  Choose,  mon 
fils,  between  a  mother  who  loves  you,  and  a  traitor 
who  betrays  you  and  yours  !  "  Madame  de  Com- 
balet,  at  this  instant,  chancing  to  send  by  one  of 
her  Majesty's  ladies  a  petition  to  make  a  farewell 
visit,  Marie  declined  to  grant  the  audience.  Louis, 
therefore,  again  took  leave  of  his  mother,  despair- 
ing to  move  her  purpose.  At  the  Louvre  he 
entered  his  chamber,  and,  throwing  himself  on  a 
couch,  remained  some  time  in  meditation.  "  St. 
Simon,"  at  length  exclaimed  his  Majesty  with  a 
sigh,  "St.  Simon,  did  you  ever  hear  or  witness 
before  such  a  scene  ?  My  mother  is  implacable." 
"  Sire,  I  confess  I  thought  myself  in  another  world 
on  hearing  your  Majesty  so  thwarted  !  Neverthe- 
less, you  are  our  master  ;  it  is  for  you  alone  to 
decide !  " 62  Louis  rose ;  the  shadow  of  wrathful 
suspicion  fell  which  so  often  darkened  his  youth- 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  199 

ful  features,  and  his  lips  trembled  with  passion. 
"  I  am  master,  as  you  say  ;  who  shall  presume  to 
judge  between  me  and  my  faithful  minister  ?  I 
will  show  them  all  that  I  am  master  !  "  The  King 
again  fell  into  taciturn  silence.  St.  Simon  had 
heard  enough,  however,  to  encourage  him  to  send 
word  to  the  Cardinal  de  la  Valette  to  counsel 
Richelieu  to  avoid  too  precipitate  a  departure,  as 
matters  might  still  be  adjusted.  The  King  quitted 
Paris  early  on  the  following  morning,  St.  Martin's 
Day,  llth  of  November  1630,  attended  by  St. 
Simon,  Beringhen,  the  Marquis  de  Mortemar,  the 
Dukes  de  Montmorency  and  de  Crequi,  and  other 
officers  of  his  household.  Marie  de'  Medici  on  the 
preceding  evening  had  announced  her  intention  to 
attend  her  son  to  Versailles.  It  was  the  Queen's 
habit  to  take  a  cup  of  broth  in  the  morning 
before  she  left  her  bed,  and  to  sleep  afterwards 
for  an  hour  ;  her  Majesty,  therefore,  failed  to  rise 
in  time  to  accompany  the  King.  At  10  o'clock 
Richelieu,  being  apprized  of  the  departure  of 
the  King,  determined  again  to  wait  upon  Marie. 
''  Monsieur,"  said  he  to  Bassompierre  in  the  guard- 
room of  the  Luxembourg,  *'  you  will  not  long  be 
troubled  to  salute,  or  present  arms,  to  a  disgraced 
and  unfortunate  man  like  myself  !  "  The  Marshal 
made  courteous  reply,  and  attended  Richelieu, 
cap  in  hand,  to  the  door  of  the  chamber  where 
Marie  and  Anne  were  closeted  together  in  earnest 
conference. 

St.  Simon,  meantime,  mindful  of  the  benefits 
conferred  upon  him  by  his  patron,  ventured  again 


200  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1626- 

to  rouse  Louis  from  his  depression  by  interceding 
for  Richelieu,  whose  crime,  he  said,  was  "  in 
having  dared  to  repress  the  treasonable  enter- 
prises of  the  Queens  and  of  M.  d'Orleans  ;  the 
latter  wishing  to  usurp  the  royal  power,  if  his 
projects  had  not  even  a  wider  scope  as  was 
asserted  by  M.  de  Chalais."  "  Your  Majesty's 
glory  and  reputation  are  involved  in  not  weakly 
sacrificing  to  feminine  vengeance  a  minister  so 
loyal,  and  able  !  }:  St.  Simon  then  affirmed  that 
M.  de  Richelieu  was  in  possession  of  an  important 
secret,  the  disclosure  of  which  depended  on  his 
remaining  in  power,  as  its  betrayal  would  in  all 
probability  prove  fatal  to  a  private  personage. 
Louis  listened  with  eager  interest ;  so  much  so, 
that  St.  Simon  despatched  an  express  to  the  Car- 
dinal de  la  Valette,  advising  his  Eminence  to  set 
out  without  delay  with  Richelieu  for  Versailles, 
but  carefully  to  prevent  his  intention  from  tran- 
spiring.63 This  transporting  intelligence  greeted 
Richelieu  on  his  return  from  the  Luxembourg, 
where  he  had  been  again,  vainly  to  plead  for 
reconciliation  at  the  feet  of  Marie  de'  Medici  and 
of  Anne  of  Austria.  Some  inkling  of  the  King's 
vacillation  and  of  a  probable  turn  of  fortune  in 
the  minister's  favour  actuated  some  of  the  more 
prudent  members  of  the  court.  Richelieu  found 
his  hotel  crowded  with  personages  assembled  to 
offer  him  respectful  condolence.  Amongst  these 
personages  was  M.  de  Chateauneuf,  then  the 
friend  of  Richelieu,  and  Lord-Keeper  elect  after 
the  fall  of  M.  de  Marillac,  an  event  resolved  upon 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  201 

by  the  Cardinal.  Chateauneuf  presented  to  the 
Cardinal  a  letter  from  the  Duchesse  de  Chevreuse, 
who  had  been  temporarily  won  over  to  the  side  of 
Richelieu  by  his  patronage  of  Chateauneuf,  with 
whom  she  was  in  confidential  correspondence. 
M.  le  Jais,  and  the  Cardinal  de  la  Valette,  MM. 
de  Meilleraye  and  de  Breze,  likewise  joined  the 
assemblage.64  The  news  from  Versailles  soon 
brought  Richelieu  tete-a-tete  with  Louis  XIII. 
who  shed  tears,  and  threw  himself  on  the  neck  of 
the  Cardinal.  Louis  then  heard  with  indignation 
the  history  of  the  intrigues  at  Lyons  ;  the  details 
of  Queen  Anne's  correspondence  with  Monsieur, 
when  he  (the  King)  was  supposed  to  be  lying  on 
the  eve  of  dissolution  ;  of  the  empressement  shown 
by  Marie  de'  Medici  to  act  for  her  son  d'Orleans  ; 
and  of  the  orders  transmitted  by  Monsieur  from 
Orleans,  through  M.  de  Bassompierre.  "  The  King 
then  exposed  to  M.  le  Cardinal  all  the  diabolical 
things  attributed  to  him  by  the  Queen-mother, 
with  all  the  artifices  by  which  she  hoped  to  per- 
suade her  son  to  remove  him  from  the  conduct  of 
affairs."  "  M.  le  Cardinal,"  exclaimed  Louis, 
'  the  Queen  my  mother  is  instigated  by  a  few 
turbulent  spirits  to  persecute  you.  I  will,  how- 
ever, control  such  !  It  suffices,  Monseigneur,  I 
am  content  with  your  services.  Stay  with  me  !  I 
give  you  my  royal  word  to  protect  you  against 
their  cabals."  Louis  then,  with  that  mingled 
majesty  and  decision,  which  on  rare  occasions  he 
could  assume,  gave  his  hand  to  his  minister,  and 
leading  him  into  an  adjacent  gallery,  where  the 


202  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1626- 

gentlemen  waited,  presented  him  to  the  assembled 
court.66 

In  Paris,  the  coterie  of  Queen  Marie  continued 
jubilant  over  her  supposed  triumph.  On  the  even- 
ing of  the  llth,  their  Majesties  held  a  reception, 
which  was  attended  by  many  of  Richelieu's 
friends,  who,  ignorant  of  the  revolution  in  their 
patron's  favour,  thought  it  politic  to  conciliate  the 
power  supposed  to  be  in  the  ascendant.  These 
persons  received  no  signs  of  recognition  from 
their  Majesties.  The  following  day,  November 
12th,  the  news  of  the  great  counter-plot  at  Ver- 
sailles burst  upon  the  astonished  courtiers,  and 
convulsed  the  Queen-mother  with  despair  and 
indignation.  The  first  intimation  was  the  arrival 
of  an  order  of  arrest  issued  by  the  King  and 
countersigned  by  Richelieu,  against  the  Lord- 
Keeper  Marillac,  who  was  at  once  seized  and 
conveyed  under  a  strong  guard  to  a  house  which 
he  possessed  in  Lorraine.  The  seals  were  given 
to  M.  de  Chateauneuf,  a  personage  who  was  the 
confidential  friend  and  ally  of  the  exiled  Duchess 
de  Chevreuse.  The  King  despatched  the  secretary 
of  state  de  Brienne,  to  inform  the  Queen-mother 
of  Richelieu's  re-establishment  in  office,  and  to 
pray  her  Majesty's  consent  and  approval.  On 
the  20th  Louis  removed  to  St.  Germain,  and 
summoned  the  Queen  his  consort  and  Madame 
de  Fargis  to  meet  him  there.  Anne  obeyed  in 
trembling  uncertainty.  M.  d'Orleans  also  received 
a  similar  order,  which  he  obeyed,  as  he  thought  it 
expedient  to  make  friends  with  the  Cardinal ; 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  203 

especially  as  he  knew  from  trusty  sources,  that 
Richelieu  had  been  informed  of  the  matrimonial 
overtures  which  had  been  again  hazarded  by  the 
young  Queen.  Monsieur,  therefore,  paid  a  visit 
in  great  state  to  Richelieu,  attended  by  twelve 
gentlemen,  and  promised  him  favour  and  recon- 
ciliation. "  Thus,"  says  a  contemporary,  "  the 
great  day  of  St.  Martin  des  Dupes  passed  with- 
out effect  whatever  ;  Queen  Marie,  compelled  to 
tolerate  the  Cardinal,  refused  a  conference,  or  any 
token  of  amity  whatever.  ' Je  prendrai  mon  temps; 
je  le  trouverai,  etferay  ce  queje  veux  !  Dieu  ne  paye 
pas  toutes  les  semaines,  mais  enfin  il  paye  !  '  said 
her  Majesty."  On  the  29th  of  November,  the 
Queen  and  her  son  met.  Louis  greeted  his  mother 
shyly  but  respectfully,  and  asked,  as  a  favour, 
that  she  would  continue  to  give  him  the  benefit 
of  her  presence  at  the  council,  and  to  aid  his 
minister  Richelieu  by  her  great  experience.  Marie 
wrathfully  replied,  "  that  she  would  never  volun- 
tarily see  M.  le  Cardinal  ;  that  she  would  rather 
die  than  assist  him  with  her  counsels  !  "  Another 
day,  at  St.  Germain,  M.  de  Nogent,  one  of  the 
gentlemen  of  Queen  Anne's  chamber,  but  a 
secret  partisan  of  Richelieu,  suddenly  entered  the 
saloon  of  his  mistress,  and  found  Anne  in  tearful 
conference  with  the  Queen-mother,  the  Marquis 
de  Mirabel  the  Spanish  ambassador,  and  her 
physician  Vaultier.  When  Nogent  *  entered  he 
overheard  the  young  Queen  exclaim,  "  Ah,  what 
beautiful  and  consolatory  sentences  one  finds  in 
the  Psalms  of  David  !  My  spirit  revives  when  I 


204  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1626- 

read  such  words  as,  '  Qui  seminat  in  lachrymis,  in 
exultatione  metat.'  "  66  Nogent  immediately  re- 
ported what  he  had  heard  to  the  Cardinal,  who 
was  at  St.  Germain.  The  entente  between  the 
Queens  again  renewed  Richelieu's  terrors.  "  Bon- 
nevil,  about  the  12th  of  December,  informed  the 
King  and  M.  le  Cardinal,  that  he  believed  there 
was  a  cabal  offensive  and  defensive  formed  by  the 
two  Queens  and  Monsieur,  the  object  of  which 
was  to  ruin  his  Eminence  by  the  diabolical  lies 
and  testimony  of  Madame  de  Fargis  and  others," 
is  the  record  entered  by  the  pen  of  Richelieu  in 
his  Diary  of  the  exciting  events  of  this  crisis  in  his 
history. 

Marie  at  length  showed  signs  of  relenting,  fear- 
ing that  hostilities  might  terminate  by  her  total 
exclusion  from  affairs  of  state.  On  Christmas  day, 
she  intimated  to  the  King  her  willingness  to  meet 
Richelieu  in  council,  provided  that  the  members 
met  in  the  apartments  of  the  young  Queen  ;  as, 
wrote  she,  "  I  cannot  yet  resolve  to  receive  M.  de 
Richelieu  at  the  Luxembourg."67  To  humour  the 
exacting  spirit  of  Marie  de'  Medici,  Louis  had 
hitherto  assembled  the  privy  council  in  an  apart- 
ment of  the  Luxembourg.  Further  conditions  were 
attempted  by  Marie  :  she  demanded  the  pardon 
of  Marillac  ;  a  promise  of  protection  for  her  own 
partisans  ;  also  an  assurance  that  Monsieur  should 
not  be  permitted  to  marry  without  her  permission. 
All  these  conditions  were  peremptorily  declined, 
as  the  Queen-mother  continued  to  demonstrate 
a  spirit  essentially  hostile.  Monsieur  met  the 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  205 

minister  in  the  court  of  the  Louvre,  and  re- 
sponded to  his  obeisance  by  turning  his  back  on 
Richelieu.  Marie  also  made  a  razzia  in  her  house- 
hold, and  dismissed  en  masse  every  person  related 
to  the  minister,  or  supposed  to  be  favourable  to 
his  policy  :  moreover,  she  sent  to  demand  from 
Richelieu  his  key  of  office  as  superintendent  of 
her  household  ; 68  and  commanded  him  to  restore 
to  her  the  Hotel  du  Petit  Luxembourg — a  gift 
which  she  had  made  him  in  the  palmy  days  of  his 
favour. 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  FOUR 

1  Galerie  des  Personnages  Illustres  de  la  Cour  de  France,  t.  4.  Charles 
had  given  his  wife  four  ladies  of  honour — the  Duchess  of  Buckingham, 
the  Marchioness  of  Hamilton,  and  the  Countesses  of  Denbigh  and  Car- 
lisle, with  whom  the  French  ladies  were  perpetually  at  feud. 

"  Les  dames  et  les  autres  etrangeres  recoivent  ordre  de  se  preparer 
a  retourner  en  France  dans  vingt-quatre  houres. — Le  Roi  les  va  voir  a 
1'hotel  Somrnerset,  leur  declare  sa  volonte,  et  leur  fait  quelques  pre- 
sents. On  los  embarque  au  plutot.  Henriette,  desolee,  ecrit  en  France. 
— Personnages  Illustres,  t.  4. 

3  Charles  d'Angennos,  Seigneur  de  Fargis.     He  was  ambassador  in 
Spain  from  the  year  1620  to  1624. 

4  Fran9oise  de  Silly,  wife  of  Philippe  Emmanuel  de  Gondy,    General 
des  Galeres,  subsequently  priest  of  the  Order  de  1'Oratoire.    He  died 
in  1662. 

"  Le  Cardinal  (de  Richelieu)  donne  des  rendez-vous  a  Madame  de 
Fargis  chez  le  Cardinal  de  Berulle,  a  Fontainebleau  et  ailleurs,  de  peur 
de  faire  trop  d'eclat  si  c'etait  chez  lui-meme  ;  et  aussi  a  cause  que 
Berulle  passoit  pour  un  beat." — Tallemant,  t.  2. 

6  Catherine  Le  Voyer  de  Lignerolles,  wife  of  Rene  du  Bellay,  Seigneur 
dela  Flotte  Hautorive  ;  her  daughter,  Renee  du  Bellay,  was  the  mother 
of  Mario  de  Hautefort. 

7  "  Elle  eblouit,  seduisit,  entraina  1'impetueux  et  aventureux  Charles 
IV." — Cousin,  Vie  de  Madame  de  Chevreuse. 

8  Henry  Duke  of  Lorraine  had  two  daughters,  co-heiresses,  Nicole  and 
Claude.  Nicole  married  Charles  IV.,  her  cousin,  eldest  son  of  the  Count 
de  Vaudemont,  third  brother  of  the  duke  her  father.    Claude  married 
Fran9ois,  younger  brother  of  Charles  IV.,  and  their  posterity  continued 
the  ducal  line  of  Lorraine.  Claude  was  the  mother  of  the  famous  Duke 


206  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1626- 

Charles  V.  of  Lorraine,  who  never  possessed  his  duchy,  then  confiscated 
by  the  French.  He  became  the  brother-in-law  of  the  Emperor  Leopold. 

9  Bassompierre  :  Journal  de  ma  Vie. — "  En  ce  temps  Madame  accoucha 
d'une  fille,  centre  1'attente  et  desir  de  leurs  Majestes  et  de  Monsieur,  qui 
eussent  plutot  demand6  un  fils  ;  et  elle,  etant  demeuree  malade  de  sa 
couche,  mourut  peu  de  temps  apres." — Mem.  de  Mademoiselle  de  Mont- 
pensier,  t.  i.     Madame  and  Queen  Anne  had  lived  in  much  mutual  cold- 
ness, and  dislike.      "  Madame  se  regardoit  comme  la  future  reine,"  and 
exacted  obsequious  homage. 

10  Anne  Louise  Marie  d'Orleans,  la  Grande  Mademoiselle. 
u  Jeanne  de  Harlay,  Marquise  de  St.  George. 

12  "  Je  lui  fis  entendre  qu'on  ne  le  recevrait  pas,  et  envoyai  Montague  en 
toute  diligence  vers  lui." — Bassompierre,  Journal.   "  Buckingham  pre- 
tend se  servir  de  1 'occasion  des  brouilleries  qu'il  cause  lui-meme,  afin  de 
voir  la  Reine  Anne  d'Autriche,  dont  il  se  declarait  1'amant." — Mem.  du 
Due  de  Rohan. 

13  "  Puisqu'on  refuse  de  me  recevoir  en  France  comme  un  ambassadeur 
qui  veut  porter  la  paix,  j'y  entrerai  malgre  les  Francois,  en  general 
d'armee  qui  porte  la  guerre  !  "  retorted  the  Duke  of  Buckingham. — 
Mem.  du  Due  de  Rohan. 

14  "  La  Reine  me  commanda  d'ecrire  au  Due,  pour  lui  faire  savoir  que 
sa  venue  ne  lui  sera  pas  agreable." — Bassompierre. 

]  5  Bassompierre,  Journal  de  ma  Vie  ;  Tallemant,  Vie  du  Due  d'Orleans  ; 
Le  Vassor,  Histoire  du  Regne  de  Louis  XIII. 

16  Hume,  Reign  of  Charles  I. ;  Siege  de  La  Rochelle,  Archives  Curieuses, 
t.  3,  deuxieme  serie. 

17  Tallemant  Des  Reaux  ;  Le  Cardinal  de  Richelieu. 

18  "  Cette  chambre  etait  fort  doree  ;  le  plancher  etait  couvert  de  tapis 
de  Perse,  et  il  y  avait  une  espece  d'autel  ou  etait  le  portrait  de  la  Reine, 
avec  plusieurs  flambeaux  alJumes." 

9  The  Rochellois,  who  had  received  no  previous  hints  of  this  expedition, 
refused  to  admit  the  English  succours  into  their  town,  on  pretence  that 
they  could  not  take  such  a  material  resolution  without  the  concurrence 
of  the  other  Protestants,  with  whom  they  were  associated  ;  but  in  reality 
they  were  afraid  of  their  allies,  suspecting  that  Soubise  and  Blancas  had 
agreed  to  betray  the  place  into  the  hands  of  the  English. — Hume. 

0  Tallemant,  Vie  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu. 

21  Siege  de  La  Rochelle,  Archives  Curieuses.  Hume,  Reign  of  Charles  I. ; 
Bassompierre,  Journal  de  ma  Vie. 

22  Walter,  second  son  of  the  first  Earl  of  Manchester,  a  Roman  Catholic, 
and  subsequently  abbot  of  St.  Martin  de  Pontoise.  Montague  possessed 
much  influence  in  the  councils  of  France  under  Marie  de'  Medici  and 
Anne  of  Austria.    He  died,  1670,  at  the  abbey  of  St.  Martin,  and  was 
interred  in  the  church  of  1'Hopital  des  Incurables,  Paris. 

23  La  Porte,  Mem.,  p.  304. 

24  Page  304  et  seq.,  Memoires,  La  Porte,  Pettitot,  vol.  54. 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  207 

25  Bassompierre,  Journal  de  ma  Vie  ;  Siege  de  La  Rochelle,  Archives 
Curieuses.    Aubery,  M6m.  pour  servir  a  1  'Histoire  de  M.  le  Cardinal  de 
Richelieu.    "  Le  Roi  donna  ordre  expres  au  Due  d'Angouleme  et  aux 
Marechaux  de  Bassompierre  et  de  Schomberg,  d'obeir  au  Cardinal 
cornine  a  sa  propre  personne." — Richard,  Vie  du  Pere  Joseph. 

26  It  has  been  asserted  that  Anne  of  Austria  was  compelled  by  the  King 
and  by  Richelieu  to  exert  her  influence  over  Buckingham,  for  the  welfare 
of  her  country,  by  writing  a  letter  to  the  Duke,  in  which  she  commanded 
him  not  to  set  sail  before  a  period  which  she  indicated. 

27  Hume  ;  Thomson's  Life  of  George  Villiers,  Duke  of  Buckingham  ;  Le 
Vassor,  Hist,  de  Louis  XIII.  ;  Rapin,  History  of  the  Reign  of  Charles  I. 

28  Buckingham  often  spoke  of  his  conquests  over  roj^al  ladies  in  terms 
highly  irreverential.     Madame  de  Chevreuse  told  the  celebrated  co- 
adjutor archbishop  of  Paris,  De  Retz,  that  the  Duke  said  to  her  one  day, 
"  J'ai  aime  trois  reines,  et  j'ai  6t6  oblige  de  les  gourmer  (to  cuff  them) 
toutes  trois."  "  De  vivre  avec  la  reine  (Anne  d'Autriche)  d'une  maniere 
un  peu  gal  ante  et  rude,  a  deux  faces,  de  1'humeur  dont  je  connois  la 
reine,"  said  Madame  de  Chevreuse. 

29  The  charms  of  the  Duchess  de  Chevreuse  had  much  power  over 
Richelieu.    Madame  de  Motteville  says,  "  que  ce  ministre,  malgre  la 
rigueur  qu'il  avait  cue  pour  elle,  ne  1'avait  jamais  hale ;   et  que  sa 
beaute  avait  eu  des  charmes  pour  lui." — Motteville,  p.  62,  t.  i. 

50  Capefigue,  Vie  d'Anne  d'Autriche — Archives  de  Simancas,  §  471. 
MS.  quoted  by  M.  Capefigue. 

31  Journal  de  Cardinal  de  Richelieu,  qu'il  a  fait  durant  le  grand  orage 
de  la  cour,  ez  annees  1630  a  1644.  Tire  des  Memoires  qu'il  a  ecrit  de  sa 
main. — Amsterdam,  1664. 

32  Philip  IV.  and  Elizabeth  de  Bourbon,  eldest  daughter  of  Henri 
Quatre  and  Marie  de'  Medici. 

33  Journal  de  ma  Vie,  Bassompierre,  annee  1629.   Aubery,  Mem.  pour 
1 'Histoire  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu.   The  Queen-mother,  when  she  first 
saw  the  Cardinal  after  his  return,  asked  after  his  health.   "  Je  me  porte 
mieux  que  beaucoup  de  gens  qui  sont  ici  ne  voudroient !  "  replied 
Richelieu.   Marie,  surprised,  then  turned  the  conversation  by  a  jest  on 
the  Cardinal  de  Berulle.  "Je  voudrois  bien,"  interposed  Richelieu,  "  etre 
aussi  avant  dans  vos  bonnes  graces,  comme  est  celui  dont  vous  vous 
moquez."  En  quittant  Marie  de'  Medici,  Richelieu  alia  chez  le  Roi,  et 
lui  demanda  permission  de  se  retirer  du  ministere. 

34  Marie  de'  Medici  was  offered,  but  refused,  the  regency  of  the  realm 
during  the  King's  absence,  in  order  to  follow  her  son,  and  more  effectu- 
ally subvert  the  influence  of  Richelieu. 

35  Journal  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu,  qu'il  a  fait  durant  le  grand  orage 
de  la  cour  es  annees  1630  jusques  a  1631.    "  La  Reine  dit  a  Bullion 
qu'elle  attendoit  son  temps,  auquel  le  Roy  ouvriroit  les  yeux  et  les 
oreilles  ;  et  qu'elle  mourrait  plutot  que  de  voir  le  Cardinal   Vaultier  a 
aussi  dit,  que  la  Reine  esperoit  que  Dieu  la  vengeroit." 


208  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1626- 

36  Tallemant,  Vie  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu,  Hist.  66. 

37  Vittorio  Siri,  Mora.  Recondite,  t.  3. — Bassompierre. 

38  Henriette  Catherine,  legitimee  de  France,  daughter  of  Henri  IV.  and 
Gabrielle  d'Estrees. 

39  Renee  de  Lorraine,  daughter  of  the  Duke  de  Mayenne,  chief  of  the 
League.  Her  husband,  the  Duke  d'Ornano,  was  a  prince  of  the  house  of 
Sforza  Santa  Fiore. 

40  Dreux  du  Radier,  Vie  de  la  Reine  Anne  d'Autriche ;   Siri,  Mem. 
Recondite  ;  Aubery,  M6m.  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu. 

41  "  Elle  avoit  les  mains  parfaites,  et  ne  les  regardoit  pas  sans  une 
secrete  complaisance." — Monville,  Vie  de  Mignart,  who  painted  the 
portrait  of  the  Queen  in  1659. 

42  Recit  du  Maladie  du  Roy  a  la  ville  de  Lyons,  par  le  Rev.  P.  Souff ran, 
son  Confesseur  ordinaire.    Lyons,  Vermonet,  1630. — Le  Vassor,  Hist, 
de  Louis  XIII. 

43  "  Monsieur  le  Cardinal  de  Lyons  dit  la  messe  dans  la  chambre,  et  le 
communia." 

44  "  Ces  paroles  attendrirent  si  fort  le  cceur  de  ceux  qui  etoient  presents, 
que  tous,  la  Reine,  messieurs  les  Cardinaux,  et  autres  officiers  de  sa 
maison,  se  jettant  a  genoux,  pleurants  et  sanglottants,  crierent :    '  C'est 
a  nous,  Sire,  de  vous  demander  pardon.    Pardonnez-nous,  Sire !  '  " — 
Recit  du  Pere  Souffran.    "  Ego  testis  oculatus  et  auritus,"  testifies  the 
reverend  Jesuit. 

45  Claude  Duo  de  St.  Simon,  born  1606  ;  married  Diane  de  Budos,  by 
whom  he  had  one  daughter,  married  to  the  Due  de  Brissac  ;  for  his 
second  wife,  M.  de  St.  Simon  espoused  Charlotte  de  1'Aubespine,  who 
was  the  mother  of  the  celebrated  Due  de  St.  Simon. 

46  A  young  cavalier  of  Burgundy,  who  succeeded  to  brief  favour  after 
the  death  of  De  Luynes,  whose  lineage  appears  to  have  been  almost 
unknown.     The  reason  of  his  disgrace  is  thus  recounted  by  Malherbe  : 
"  Un  jour  le  Roi  par  caresse,  lui  jeta  quelques  gouttes  d'eau  de  fleur 
d'orange  au  visage  dans  la  chambre  de  la  Reine.   Barradas  se  mit  dans 
une  tefie  colere,  qu'il  sauta  sur  les  mains  du  Roi,  lui  arracha  le  petit 
pot  ou  etoit  1'eau,  et  le  lui  lanca  aux  pieds." 

47  Recit  du  Pere  Souffran. 

48  Bassompierre  :   "  On  rapporte  qu'il  y  cut  une  grande  assemblee  a  ce 
sujet,  chez  Madame  de  Fargis  ;   et  que  le  Cardinal  entendit  tout  au 
moyen  d'une  surbacane,  et  que  chacun  subit  plus  tard  le  traitement  qu'il 
voulait  faire  eprouver  au  ministre." — Notice  sur  Richelieu  ;  Mem.  de 
Richelieu,  depuis  1610  jusqu'a  1620. 

49  "  Cette  princesse  jeta  de  si  hauts  cris,  et  espandit  tant  de  larmes, 
quand  je  lui  dis  cela,  qu'elle  pensa  s'evanouir  ;  et  je  ne  pus  parachever  ce 
que  je  voulois  dire." — Recit  du  Rev.  Pere  Souffran. 

50  Preface  des  editeurs  de  la  premiere  edition  des  Memoires  de  Bassom- 
pierre.    Cologne,  1665. 

61  Bassompierre  is  said  to  have  hinted  to  the  Cardinal  that  he  might 


1630]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  209 

obtain  his  desire  by  prompt  application  to  M.  de  Villeroi,  Governor  of 
Lyons,  through  M.  de  Chateauneuf,  cousin -german  to  Villeroi,  and  the 
Cardinal's  devoted  adherent. 

52  Recit  du  Rev.  P.  Souffran,  who  terminates  his  interesting  narrative 
with  the  wish  that  the  King's  unexpected  recovery  "  serve  a  1'amende- 
ment  de  cette  cour,  qui  est  maintenant  pleine  de  bonne  volonte  ;  mais 
connoissant  son  inconstance  je  craina  quo,  venient  filii  usque  ad  partum, 
et  non  est  virtus  pariendi." 

53  "  Maison  de  Madame  de  Chaponay." — Bassompierre. 

64  "  Un  emploi  au-dessous  d'elle,"  says  Tallemant  des  Reaux. 

55  "  Marie  de'  Medici  descendit  au  couvent  des  Carmelites  du  Faubourg 
St.  Jacques,  avant  d'aller  au  Luxembourg.    On  crut  que  la  perte  du 
ministre  fut  encore  concertee  la,  entre  les  deux  reines,  et  Marillac,  Garde 
des  Sceaux.    Les  apologistes  de  ces  princesses,  soutiennent  qu'on  ne 
s'occupa  que  de  devotion  chez  les  Carmelites  ;  et  que  les  deux  reines, 
entrees  dans  le  monastere,  n'eut  pas  un  long  entretien  avec  Marillac," 
etc.  etc. — Galerie  des  Personnages    lllustres  de  la  Cour  de  France, 
pendant  les  regnes  de  Henri  IV.  et  de  Louis  XIII. ,  t.  4. 

56  Journal  de  M.  le  Cardinal  Due  de  Richelieu.    The  Cardinal  relates 
with  considerable  complacency  all  the  violent  speeches  made  by  the 
Queen-mother.    One  day  she  exclaimed  to  Bullion,  secretary  of  state, 
"  Je  me  donnerois  plutdt  au  diable,  que  je  ne  me  vengeasse  !  "  Another 
day,  MarieJ  conversing  with  a  Jesuit  of  the  court,  le  Pere  Chrysostom, 
said  that  she  hated  the  Cardinal,  "  pour  1'etat  qu'il  avoit  mis  la  France." 
The  Jesuit  replied,  "  que  tout  le  monde  estimait  le  contraire."    "  Le 
peuple  est  une  bete  ;  il  ne  faut  pas  prendre  garde  de  ce  qu'il  dit,"  replied 
her  Majesty  angrily.  "  Elle  dit  au  roi  que  j'6tais  un  grand  menteur  ;  et 
que  je  lui  avait  fait  signer  des  papiers  pour  d'autres." — Journal  de 
Richelieu. 

57  Tallemant  des  Reaux,  Hist,  de  Louis  XIII. 

58  Journal  de  Richelieu  sur  les  oragea  de  la  cour,  es  annees  1630-1644. 
"  Que  dites-vous  la,  Madame  ?   La  colere  vous  emporte  trop  loin,"  ex- 
claimed the  King.     "  Vous  m'affligez  si  sensiblement  que  je  ne  me 
remettrai  jamais  du  chagrin  que  vous  me  causez." — Galerie  des  Per- 
sonnages lllustres  de  la  Cour  de  France,  t.  4. 

69  Bassompierre,  Journal  de  ma  Vie.  Louis  is  said  by  Bassompierre  to 
have  exclaimed  with  dismay,  on  seeing  his  minister,  "  Le  voici !  " 

60  Galerie  des  Personnages  lllustres,  etc.  etc.  ;  Histoire  du  Cardinal  de 
Richelieu  ;  Aubery  ;  Le  Vassor,  Histoire  de  Louis  XIII.  ;  Leti,  Teatro 
Gallico,  t.  1,  in  4to  ;  Dreux  du  Radier,  Vie  de  Marie  de'  Medici. 

61  Louise-Marguerite  de  Lorraine-Guise.   After  the  death  of  the  Prince 
de  Conty,  in  1614,  she  is  supposed  to  have  made  a  secret  marriage  with 
Bassompierre. 

62  Galerie  des  Personnages  lllustres,  t.  4.  The  Due  de  St.  Simon,  in  his 
Memoirs,  relates  :    "  II  est  souvent  arrive  a  mon  pere  d'etre  reveille  en 
sursaut  en  pleine  nuit  par  un  valet  de  chambre  qui  tiroit  son  rideau, 

o 


210  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA 

une  bougie  a  la  main,  ayant  derriere  lui  le  Cardinal  de  Richelieu,  qui 
s'asseyoit  sur  le  lit,  en  prenant  la  bougie,  s'ecriant  quelquefois  qu'il 
etoit  perdu,  et  venoit  au  conseil  et  au  secours  de  mon  pere,  sur  des  avis 
qu'on  lui  avoit  donnes,  ou  sur  les  prises  qu'il  avoit  cues  avec  le  Roi." — 
Mem.  t.  1,  chap.  iii. 

63  "  Je  ne  m'arreterai  point  a  la  fameuse  Journee  des  Dupes,"  writes  the 
Due  de  St.  Simon,  "  ou  mon  pere  eut  le  sort  du  Cardinal  Richelieu  entre 

les  mains,  parceque  je  1'ai  trouvee  dans (Siri  ?),  toute  telle  que  mon 

pere  me  1'a  racontee." — Tome  i.  chap.  iii.    The  name  of  the  historian 
quoted  by  St.  Simon  cannot  be  deciphered  in  the  MS.  of  his  Memoires. 
Vittorio  Siri,  however  (Mem.  Recondite),  states  that  he  received  every 
detail  of  La  Journee  des  Dupes  from  the  lips  of  M.  de  St.  Simon. 

64  Galerie  des  Personnages  Illustres  de  la  Cour  de  France,  sous  les  regnes 
de  Henri  IV.  et  Louis  XIII.,  vol.  4,  p.  114,  et  seg.    "  Le  bagage  du 
Cardinal  etait  d6ja  en  chemin  sous  1'escorte  de  quelques  soldats,  et  ses 
nutlets  allerent  jusqu'a  trente-cinq  lieux  au-dela  de  Paris,  sans  entrer 
dans  aucune  ville  de  peur  qu'ils  ne  fussent  arretes,  et  que  le  peuple  ne 
s'avisat  de  piller  le  tresor  qu'ils  porterent." 

66  "  Les  Dues  de  Montmorency  et  Cr£qui,  avertis  sous  mains  par  St. 
Simon,  vont  a  Versailles  ;  mais  Bassompierre  fut  une  des  plus  grandes 
dupes  de  cette  fameuse  Journee." 

66  Journal  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu. 

67  "  Parceque  le  dit  Cardinal  avoit  trop  de  temps  a  etre  chez  elle  en 
attendant  le  conseil  qu'on  ne  tiendroit  pas  toujours  des  lors  que  le  Roi 
seroit  entr6 ;   ce  qu'elle  ne  vouloit  pas,  pour  1'aversion  qu'elle  avoit 
contre  luy  ;  et  la  peine  que  ce  luy  6toit  de  le  souff rir,  et  encore  rien  qui 
luy  appartient." 

68  Marie  aggravated  this  extreme  mark  of  displeasure  by  sending  as  her 
messenger  a  simple  valet  de  chambre,  with  a  verbal  message  ! 


CHAPTER  V 
1630-1631 

ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  AND  MADEMOISELLE  DE 
HAUTEFORT 

MADAME  DE  FARGIS,  meanwhile,  continued  to 
assail  the  Cardinal  de  Richelieu,  to  upbraid  him 
for  his  ingratitude,  and  to  flay  his  reputation  by 
her  sarcasm.  According  to  Richelieu,  she  was 
accessory  to  all  the  peril  and  annoyances  which  he 
experienced ;  exasperating  her  mistress,  Queen 
Anne,  against  him,  and  proving  herself  the 
steady  ally  of  M.  Vaultier,  and  the  agent  of  the 
exiled  princes  in  their  attempts  to  convulse  the 
court.  Meantime  it  was  said  that  the  liaison 
which  Madame  de  Fargis  retained  with  the  Count 
de  Cramail,  and  with  Beringhen,  first  valet  de 
chambre  to  the  King,  was  open  to  grave  suspicion  ; 
so  much  so  as  to  render  her  removal  from  the 
household  of  the  Queen  advisable.  The  King, 
moreover,  could  not  endure  the  presence  of  a  per- 
sonage who  had  acted  in  accord  with  his  consort 
throughout  her  late  negotiations  with  Monsieur  ; 
his  Majesty,  therefore,  listened  greedily  to  the 
defamatory  stories  in  circulation  and  thereupon 
resolved  on  the  dismissal  of  de  Fargis.1  At  the 
same  time,  Richelieu  resolved  to  forbid  the 

frequent  interviews  holden    between  Anne   and 

211 


212  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [leso- 

the  Spanish  ambassador.  Boutillier  was  therefore 
despatched  to  Mirabel  to  deliver  a  formal  order 
from  the  King  forbidding  the  Marquis  from  entree 
to  the  Louvre  except  on  state  festivals  ;  2  also  it 
was  intimated  that  for  the  future  when  the  am- 
bassador wished  for  audience  of  Queen  Anne  such 
privilege  was  to  be  solicited  in  the  prescribed  way, 
notice  being  given  to  her  Majesty's  chamberlain 
three  days  previously.  The  abbess  of  Val  de 
Grace,  moreover,  received  a  notice  not  to  admit 
persons  within  her  convent  during  the  abode 
there  of  Queen  Anne,  and  to  forward  to  the 
minister  a  list  of  all  applicants  for  audience.  The 
ambassador,  in  a  state  of  extreme  irritation, 
sought  an  immediate  interview  with  King  Louis 
to  ask  reparation  for  so  notable  an  affront.  The 
King  coolly  replied,  "  M.  PAmbassadeur,  you  are 
cognisant  of  the  intrigues  afloat  at  my  court 
which  deprive  me  of  tranquillity.  You  ought  not, 
by  your  frequent  audience  of  her  Majesty,  to 
have  provoked  comment,  or  to  have  seemed  to 
sanction  and  encourage  such  disorders.  It  is  not 
my  intention  to  revoke  my  mandate.  I  will 
thank  you  to  inform  me  whether  the  King  your 
master  would  have  suffered  for  a  single  day  at 
his  court  the  cabals  and  disquietudes  which  for 
years  have  convulsed  mine  ?  "  3  Richelieu  then 
added  that  M.  de  Barrault,  his  Majesty's  am- 
bassador in  Spain,  was  compelled  to  adhere  to  the 
recognised  etiquette  in  his  visits  to  her  Catholic 
Majesty  sister  of  King  Louis,  and  that  during 
the  last  four  months  he  had  never  failed  to  present 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  213 

himself  twice  in  the  week  to  salute  her  Catholic 
Majesty  and  had  not  been  admitted  to  audience. 
Intelligence  of  these  proceedings  reached  the  ear 
of  Anne,  who  now  passed  most  of  her  time  at  the 
Luxembourg,  in  the  society  of  the  Queen-mother, 
and  was  often  many  days  without  seeing  her 
husband.  Mirabel  paid  a  furtive  visit  the  follow- 
ing day  to  the  Val  de  Grace  whilst  Anne  was 
attending  mass  in  the  convent  chapel,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  brief  audience  of  her  Majesty, 
who  was  attended  by  de  Fargis,  as  she  quitted  the 
convent.  On  the  27th  Anne  sent  for  M.  Boutil- 
lier,  under-secretary  of  state.  The  interview  is 
thus  related  by  the  pungent  pen  of  Richelieu  in 
his  Diary : 4  "  The  Queen  sent  for  M.  Boutillier, 
to  say  that  she  was  informed  that  some  persons 
were  rendering  bad  offices  to  Madame  de  Fargis 
and  that  it  was  intended  to  dismiss  her,  that  she 
had,  therefore,  sent  for  him  to  say  to  me  that  the 
greatest  pleasure  that  I  could  do  her  was  to  pre- 
vent this  ;  that  until  now  she  had  been  the  victim 
of  oppression,  but  she  desired  that  I  should  know 
she  would  no  longer  endure  such  ignominious 
treatment,  and  that  she  was  not  so  miserable  and 
insignificant  a  personage  as  not  to  be  able  some 
day  to  resent  her  wrongs."  5  Boutillier  replied, 
that  he  had  received  no  official  intimation  that 
the  exile  of  Madame  de  Fargis  was  resolved  upon. 
The  Queen  retorted :  "  I  know  it  from  trust- 
worthy sources :  let  it  suffice."  Monsieur  also 
visited  Richelieu  to  intercede  for  Madame  de 
Fargis  at  the  request  of  the  Queen  who  was 


214  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1630- 

"  stirred  with  marvellous  anger  at  the  insult  about 
to  be  offered  to  her."  Intercession,  however, 
proved  useless ;  Louis  and  his  minister  were 
resolved  upon  the  exile  of  the  frivolous  and 
intriguing  woman  whose  counsels  led  her  mistress 
astray.  Richelieu  was,  doubtless,  moved  to  this 
decision  by  pique  at  the  conduct  of  de  Fargis, 
who  had  obtained  her  nomination  to  the  royal 
household  by  professions  of  devotion  to  his 
interests.  "  On  the  30th  of  December,"  writes 
Richelieu,  "  de  Fargis  received  an  order  to  leave 
the  court,  in  the  most  considerate  and  favourable 
manner  possible,  as  she  was  to  ask  for  permission 
to  resign.  The  Queen  testified  great  indignation 
against  the  Cardinal.  She  said  several  times,  in 
the  presence  of  Madame  d'Angouleme  and  of 
Madame  la  Princesse,  '  that,  as  for  the  order 
which  had  been  given  to  the  ambassador  of  Spain, 
it  was  for  the  King  of  Spain  her  brother  to  resent 
and  avenge  it  as  would  be  seen,  but  the  exile  of 
Madame  de  Fargis  was  her  affair  ;  and  that  all 
concerned  in  it  might  be  assured  that  she  would 
never  relax  in  her  displeasure.'  Moreover,"  con- 
tinues Richelieu,  "  the  fury  of  the  Queen  was 
unappeasable,  for  she  exclaimed  in  the  presence 
of  little  Lavaux,  '  No,  never  will  I  pardon  M.  le 
Cardinal  '  J: 

"  January  3,  1631.  The  Queen  went  to  visit 
the  Queen-mother,  where  she  remained  a  long 
time  ;  on  her  return  her  eyes  were  red  and 
swelled.  She  bitterly  complained  of  the  indig- 
nities to  which  she  was  subjected,  especially  that 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  215 

his  Majesty  threatened  to  dismiss  her  apothe- 
cary, Michel  Danse :  the  said  Michel  Danse 
having  observed  to  her  Majesty  that  he  knew  why 
M.  le  Cardinal  wished  to  dismiss  him — it  was  to 
have  opportunity  to  poison  her  so  that  the  King 
might  espouse  Madame  de  Combalet  !  The  Queen 
responded  again  with  a  menace,  adding :  '  No  es 
mas  tiempo  de  habler  con  el  Cardenal,  pero  Men  de 
hazer  !  ' 

"  January  5.  The  Spanish  ambassador  waited 
on  M.  le  Cardinal  to  notify  that  her  Majesty  had 
applied  to  him  to  intercede  for  her  apothecary ; 
the  said  Cardinal  responded 6  '  that  he  would 
mention  the  request  to  the  King  who  was  master 
and  lord.5 

"  January  6.  M.  de  Chaulnes  visited  the  Car- 
dinal with  the  King.  After  his  Majesty  had  de- 
parted the  said  de  Chaulnes  informed  the  Cardinal 
that  his  sister,  Madame  de  Bouillon,7  met  the 
Queen  at  the  Carmelite  Convent,  and  that  her 
Majesty  made  bitter  comment  on  her  position 
and  treatment ;  upon  which  the  said  Dame  de 
Bouillon  replied,  '  that  perhaps  it  was  her  Ma- 
jesty's own  fault,  by  living  on  bad  terms  with  the 
King  and  with  those  persons  in  whom  his 
Majesty  confided.'  Her  Majesty  replied,  with 
warmth,  4  No  !  M.  le  Cardinal  wishes  to  divorce 
me  from  the  King,  my  lord,  and  send  me  back 
to  Spain.'8  The  same  day,  M.  le  Cardinal  de  la 
Valette  went  to  pay  his  respects  to  her  Majesty, 
and  while  in  discourse  he  gently  observed  that 
her  Majesty  should  not  so  bitterly  resent  the  past, 


216  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1630- 

neither  ought  she  to  threaten  so  unreservedly. 
The  Queen  replied,  '  I  fear  nothing  ;  they  have 
done  the  worst  against  me  that  they  can.  I  know 
what  my  conduct  in  future  shall  be,  and  they  have 
no  power  to  prevent  me.  I  repeat,  I  have  nothing 
to  fear  !  I  need  patience  only — and  time  will  do 
the  rest.'  The  Queen  then  paused,  and  glancing 
uneasily  at  the  Cardinal  de  la  Valette,  hastily 
added,  '  I  perceive  that,  perhaps,  I  talk  too 
much  :  I  will  say  no  more.' 

"  January  7.  The  King  has  had  intelligence 
that  the  Spanish  ambassador  has  been  all  this 
afternoon  shut  up  with  the  Queen  at  Val  de 
Grace  ;  also  that  de  Fargis  was  lodging  with  le 
Pere  de  Gondy  close  at  hand,  and  that  a  person 
named  Bordier  has  been  going  between  the  said 
ambassador,  the  Queen  and  de  Fargis,  in  defiance 
of  the  strict  orders  given  by  his  Majesty  that 
the  said  ambassador  should  not  see  the  Queen 
without  leave.  The  ambassador  quitted  Val  de 
Grace  at  dusk  hour,  and  whilst  he  was  there  his 
coach  waited  in  an  adjacent  street. 

"  The  King  desiring  this  same  evening  to  go  to 
the  play,  her  Majesty  refused  to  accompany  him, 
and  simulated  faintness  in  order  to  be  able  to 
excuse  herself. 

"  January  8.  The  King  expressed  again  the 
same  desire,  and  sent  to  ask  the  Queen  his  wife  to 
accompany  him  to  see  a  comedy  ;  her  Majesty 
refused  to  go,  although  M.  de  Bonnevil  9  gravely 
represented  the  matter. 

"  The  Cardinal  de  la  Valette  informed  the  Car- 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  217 

dinal  that  on  a  certain  day  the  two  Queens,  as 
they  retired  from  the  court  circle,  said  (alluding  to 
his  Eminence),  '  Nous  avons  bien  a  faire  de  luy 
donner  plaisir  tandis  qu'il  nous  procure  du  deplai- 
sir,  et  de  la  peine  ! ' 

"  January  20.  The  prioress  of  Val  de  Grace 
sent  secretly  to  inform  M.  le  Cardinal  par  le  R. 
de  P.  (sic),  that  Montagu  10  in  disguise  had  talked 
at  the  grate  with  the  Queen  ;  also  that  many 
persons  whom  they  did  not  know  now  spoke  there 
to  her  Majesty ;  and  that  the  last  time  that  she 
visited  the  convent  a  letter  was  given  to  her  at  the 
grate,  which  her  Majesty  read  and  then  burned  ; 
the  writer  was  supposed  to  be  Madame  de 
Fargis."  ll 

This  entertaining  Journal,  written  by  the  Car- 
dinal, reveals  the  irritating  espionnage  exercised 
over  the  words  and  actions  of  the  young  Queen. 
Anne's  puerile  plots  to  displace  the  powerful 
minister  recoiled  upon  herself  and  covered  her 
with  obloquy.  Her  position  at  the  court  of 
France,  over  which  her  predecessors  had  ruled  so 
imperiously,  was  humiliating  to  a  great  princess. 
Her  personal  liberty  even  was  fettered,  and  St. 
Germain,  the  Luxembourg  and  the  Val  de  Grace, 
were  the  only  places  which  she  had  permission  to 
visit  at  pleasure.  The  court  assembled  in  the 
splendid  saloons  of  the  minister,  and  while 
Queen  Anne  moped  in  a  corner  of  the  Louvre, 
Madame  de  Combalet  received  the  homage  of  the 
great  ladies  of  the  capital.  In  defiance  of  the 
orders  of  the  minister,  Madame  de  Fargis  lingered 


218  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1630- 

in  Paris,  from  whence,  however,  she  made  pre- 
cipitate retreat  to  Jouarre  on  learning  that  a 
packet  of  letters  which  she  had  formerly  written 
to  some  personage  in  Lorraine  12  had  been  seized 
on  the  person  of  one  M.  de  Senelle,  ex-apothecary 
to  the  King,  whom  she  had  sent  to  Nancy  to 
recover  possession  of  these  papers  which  she  now 
deemed  it  expedient  to  destroy.  At  Jouarre,  de 
Fargis  had  an  interview  with  the  Duchess  de 
Chevreuse.  Marie  apparently  greeted  the  fugi- 
tive with  sympathy  and  listened  to  her  plaints 
against  the  Cardinal,  with  whom,  however,  the 
Duchess  was  now  reconciled  through  her  friend 
the  Lord  Keeper  de  Chateauneuf .  From  Jouarre* 
de  Fargis  travelled  to  Nancy,  and  from  thence 
she  was  imprudent  enough  to  despatch  letters  to 
the  young  Queen  and  to  other  high  personages, 
repeating  her  slanderous  accusations  against  the 
minister.  Scarcely  had  her  messenger  passed  the 
frontier  of  Lorraine  than  Richelieu's  emissaries 
seized  and  despoiled  him  of  his  despatches  which, 
were  at  once  transmitted  to  Paris. 

"  Amongst  these  papers,"  writes  the  Cardinal,13 
"  were  found  letters  addressed  to  the  Queen  and 
others  for  M.  le  Comte  de  Cramail,  Mademoiselle 
du  Tillet  and  the  Marquise  de  Sourdis.  These 
letters  contained  mention  of  high  crimes,  and 
discussed  advantages  to  be  derived  from  the  death 
of  the  Cardinal.  They  also  made  allusion  to 
the  death  of  the  King,  and  mentioned  the  old 
project  of  marrying  the  Queen  to  Monsieur. 
They  stated  that  the  Queen-mother  opposed  the 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  219 

marriage  of  Monsieur  with  a  princess  of  Mantua 
to  please  the  Queen,  as  his  Majesty's  health  was 
apparently  greatly  on  the  decline.  They  testified 
to  intimate  correspondence  between  the  writer, 
the  Queen-consort  and  Monsieur,  and  gave 
advice  to  the  said  Queen  Anne  to  do  her  utmost 
against  the  Cardinal.  De  Fargis  also  wrote  to 
M.  de  Cramail,  to  get  up  petitions  against  the 
Cardinal  and  to  forward  them  to  the  Queen.  De 
Fargis,  moreover,  said  to  M.  de  Cramail  '  that  she 
would  send  the  necessary  tokens  to  the  individual 
indicated  ;  but  it  would  be  requisite  that  this  man 
should  be  especially  faithful  as  she  herself  was.5 
All  these  said  letters  were  shown,  and  identified  to 
be  in  the  handwriting  of  de  Fargis,  by  the  persons 
to  whom  they  were  addressed." 

The  Duchess  de  Chevreuse,  meantime,  paid  a 
brief  visit  of  a  few  days  to  Paris  and  was  per- 
mitted to  see  the  Queen  without  restriction, 
which  concession  diminished  the  acrimony  of 
Anne's  resentment.  Her  Majesty  sent  the 
Duchess  to  the  hotel  of  the  minister  to  intercede 
for  de  Fargis,  and  likewise  she  persuaded  Mon- 
sieur, who  was  then  staying  at  the  Luxembourg 
with  Queen  Marie,  to  speak  to  the  King  on  the 
same  subject.  Louis  silenced  Monsieur's  loqua- 
city, adding  bitterly,  "  that  in  a  few  hours  her 
Majesty  would  be  made  aware  of  the  justice  of  the 
proceedings  against  a  personage  every  way  so  con- 
temptible and  unworthy."  The  Cardinal  replied, 
"  that  the  exile  of  the  said  Dame  de  Fargis  being 
approved  even  by  the  Marquis  de  Mirabel,  and 


220  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1630- 

ordered  by  his  Majesty  Louis  XIII.,  he  could  in  no 
way  interfere."  14  The  day  but  one  following,  as 
Anne  was  preparing  to  depart  for  the  Val  de 
Grace,  to  grant  a  stolen  interview  to  Mirabel, 
Boutillier,  under- secretary  of  state,  appeared  to 
demand  audience  of  the  Queen  on  behalf  of  the 
Cardinal  de  Richelieu,  the  Lord  Keeper  de  Cha- 
teauneuf,  and  the  ministers  of  state  de  Schomberg 
and  d'Effiat,  who  presented  themselves  at  the 
portal  of  Anne's  audience  chamber  before  her 
Majesty  could  command  herself  sufficiently  to 
reply  to  their  message.  Anne's  usual  placid  de- 
meanour faltered  somewhat  as  she  took  her  seat 
and  prepared  to  listen  to  the  communication 
about  to  be  made  in  such  formal  state.  Richelieu 
then  blandly  informed  her  Majesty  of  the  arrest  of 
Senelle  and  of  another  envoy  of  the  Countess  de 
Fargis,  and  laid  the  letters  captured  from  these 
persons  on  the  table  for  Anne's  inspection— 
"  which  we  did,"  relates  his  Eminence,  "  with  all 
possible  respect."  The  Queen  then  identified  the 
writing  and  letters  of  de  Fargis,  but  said  much 
against  the  said  de  Fargis,  for  the  wicked  thoughts 
that  she  suggested  respecting  the  marriage  be- 
tween Monsieur  and  herself  in  case  of  the  demise 
of  his  Majesty.  She  said  "  that  she  had  con- 
ceived such  an  aversion  for  the  person  of  Mon- 
sieur that  she  did  not  think  that  she  could  ever  be 
brought  to  consent  to  such  an  alliance."  The 
Cardinal  then  drew  her  Majesty's  attention  to  a 
paragraph  in  one  of  the  letters  of  Madame  de 
Fargis  to  the  Count  de  Cramail,  in  which  she  ex- 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  221 

horted  the  latter,  "  to  forward  as  many  petitions 
as  possible  to  the  Queen  against  Richelieu.'' 
"  Madame,"  observed  the  Cardinal,  "  truth  is 
everywhere  to  be  obtained.  I  pray  you  there- 
fore, do  not  seek  so  far  for  grievances  against  me, 
but  if  your  Majesty  has  aught  to  complain  of  tell 
me  my  fault."  "  Monseigneur,  I  must  be  very 
malicious  to  say  anything  against  you,  not  having 
cause."  15  The  audience  terminated  with  a  ceremo- 
nious farewell,  previous  to  which  Richelieu  ap- 
prised the  Queen  that  the  Marquise  de  Senece  had 
been  appointed  by  the  King  to  replace  Madame  de 
Fargis  as  first  lady  of  the  palace.  Anne  received 
the  communication  in  silence,  but  after  the  de- 
parture of  the  minister  her  tears  flowed,  and  she 
hurriedly  retired  to  her  oratory  and  appeared  no 
more  in  public  during  the  day. 

The  court,  meantime,  continued  to  be  a  very 
focus  of  intrigue  :  pleasure  and  festivities  were  no 
longer  sought  by  the  courtiers  but  were  replaced 
by  the  evil  excitements  of  petty  plotting,  scandal 
and  slander.  Each  man  and  woman  of  the  court 
was  attached  to  one  or  other  of  the  hostile  parties, 
and  either  rallied  round  Marie  de'  Medici  at  the 
Luxembourg,  Anne  of  Austria  at  the  Louvre, 
Monsieur  at  the  Hotel  d' Orleans,  or  Richelieu  at 
the  Palais  Cardinal.  Jealousy,  suspicions  and  a 
lawless  excitement  relative  to  the  issue  of  the 
political  feuds  prevailing,  quenched  the  wit,  th* 
gaiety  and  the  magnificence  of  the  courtiers.  In 
these  days  of  cabal,  frivolous  stories  acquired  a 
disastrous  degree  of  importance,  a  depreciatory 


222  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1630- 

whisper  sufficed  to  blast  a  promising  career,  and 
to  inscribe  a  name  on  the  terrible  black  list  of  the 
Cardinal.  The  spirit  of  Marie  de'  Medici  quailed 
at  the  contest  before  her  ;  and  yet  she  rejected 
with  disdain  the  overtures  of  the  minister,  while 
weeping  in  the  solitude  of  her  palace  at  the 
obloquy  which  had  befallen  her,  and  at  the 
fatal  omens  16  which  she  descried  of  approaching 
calamity.  The  Duke  of  Orleans,  who  was  watched 
with  gloomy  suspicion  by  King  Louis,  one  day 
courted  the  smiles  and  friendship  of  Richelieu, 
and  on  the  next  furiously  declaimed  against  his 
power,  and  vowed  to  support  his  mother  to  the 
death.  Reassured  by  the  sympathy  of  her 
younger  son,  Marie,  during  January  of  the  year 
1631,  took  the  fatal  resolve  of  making  one  more 
effort  to  dislodge  Richelieu.  Stories  were  circu- 
lated by  her  Majesty's  command,  depreciating  the 
honour  and  fame  of  the  minister  ;  ludicrous  inci- 
dents were  invented  and  industriously  detailed  to 
undermine  his  influence,  in  which  ridicule  Anne 
and  Marie  joined.  Marie  had  appointed  Riche- 
lieu, in  the  former  days  of  his  favour,  lord-steward 
for  life  of  her  household,  and  had  presented  him 
with  the  Hotel  du  Petit  Luxembourg,  a  mansion 
joining  her  own  palace,  as  his  official  residence. 
This  office  she  had  commanded  him  to  resign, 
also  possession  of  le  Petit  Luxembourg,  which 
was  then  inhabited  by  the  Cardinal's  niece, 
Madame  de  Combalet.  Richelieu  audaciously 
disregarded  the  mandate,  alleging  that  the  office 
of  lord-steward  was  permanent ;  as  for  the  Petit 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  223 

Luxembourg,  Queen  Marie  had  promised  him  an 
indemnity  of  30,000  livres  if,  at  the  command  of 
the  King,  or  from  any  other  motive,  she  was  com- 
pelled to  resume  her  gift,  which  otherwise  was 
to  be  considered  a  donation  given  and  accepted 
for  life.    Marie  appealed  to  the  King,  and  offered 
to  pay  the  indemnity,  but  Louis  decided  that  the 
hotel  belonged  to  his  minister,  and  that  the  Queen 
could  not  thus  arbitrarily  annul  an  appointment.17 
Thus  thwarted,  Marie  injudiciously  sought  sup- 
port from  Monsieur,  who  entered  into  the  quarrel 
with  acrimony — so  much  so,  that  meeting  the 
minister   one    day  in  public,   he   again    passed 
him  without  salutation  or  any  notice  whatever. 
Meantime,  the  friends  of  Queen  Marie  held  almost 
open   communication   with  M.  de  Soissons   and 
other  exiled  princes.     State  secrets  oozed  out  in  a 
mysterious    manner    at    the    courts    of    Madrid, 
London  and  Nancy.      Couriers  were  continually 
passing  to  and  from  those  countries  bearing  de- 
spatches for  the  Queen-mother,  for  Queen  Anne, 
or  for  Monsieur,  the  contents  of  which  were  never 
disclosed.     The  clandestine  visits  of  Anne  to  her 
community  at  the  Val  de  Grace  became  more 
frequent  than  ever,  and   the   Cardinal   obtained 
information  that   she   constantly  there  granted 
interviews   to   M.   de   Mirabel   and   Madame   de 
Fargis,  who  had  had  the  audacity  to  visit  Paris 
in  disguise ;  and  to  one  Croft,18  who  acted  as  the 
agent  of  the  English  government,  and  to  whom 
Queen  Anne  was  accused  of  betraying  any  state 
secrets  she  might  become  possessed  of  relating  to 


224  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1630- 

the  Huguenot  subjects  of  the  realm.  There  can 
be  little  doubt  that  Anne,  in  her  anger  at  the 
coercion  to  which  she  was  subjected,  did  impart 
much  information  to  the  envoys  of  foreign  states. 
Dazzled  by  the  promise  of  future  power  and  con- 
sideration, guaranteed  to  her  by  her  ambitious 
mother-in-law  and  by  Monsieur,  she  eagerly 
entered  into  their  miserable  plots  to  overthrow 
Richelieu.  Matters  were  brought  to  a  crisis  by  a 
rude  refusal  on  the  part  of  the  President  le  Jay  to 
pay  a  pecuniary  mandate  of  considerable  amount 
drawn  on  the  treasury  by  Queen  Marie  ;  also  by 
the  independent  act  of  the  Cardinal,  who  bestowed 
the  government  of  the  Pays  d'Aunis  with  La 
Rochelle  without  previously  consulting  M.  d' Or- 
leans, which  was  a  breach,  as  Monsieur  alleged, 
of  their  late  treaty  of  amity.  Monsieur  conse- 
quently waited  on  his  Eminence  one  morning, 
attended  by  a  numerous  suite — all  having  pre- 
viously been  concerted  with  the  Queens  : — "  Your 
Eminence  will  doubtless  feel  surprise  at  my  visit," 
began  Monsieur,  in  a  tone  which  Richelieu  shrank 
not  from  calling  insolent  in  his  account  of  the 
interview  to  the  King.  "  As  long  as  I  believed 
that  you  were  inclined  faithfully  to  serve  my  in- 
terests, I  was  willing  to  remain  your  friend  ;  now, 
as  I  perceive  that  you  fail  to  perform  that  which 
you  promised,  and  have  therefore  broken  faith 
with  me,  I  am  here  to  withdraw  my  promise  to 
aid  and  to  patronise  you."  19  The  great  minister 
inclined  before  the  young  Prince,  and  with  an  air 
of  deep  respect,  "  begged  to  be  informed  in  what 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  225 

manner  he  had  failed  to  give  satisfaction  to  his 
royal  Highness  ?  '  "  Monsieur,  you  have  failed 
in  all  your  engagements  relative  to  the  Duke  of 
Lorraine  ;  you  have  also  done  all  in  your  power  to 
throw  discredit  and  to  attribute  loss  of  influence 
to  Queen  Marie  your  benefactress  and  to  myself." 

4  Monseigneur,"  replied  Richelieu,  "  have  not  I 
promised  to  consider  the  claims  of  M.  de  Lorraine, 
when  the  said  prince  shall  invite  me  so  to  do  by 
his  envoys  ?     As  for  yourself,  your  Highness  re- 
ceiving all,  and  more  than  you  demand,  can  have 
no  just  cause  of  complaint."     Monsieur  replied 
that  further  argument  was  unnecessary  ;    upon 
which   his  Eminence  made   profound  obeisance. 
The  Duke  next  observed  that  he  was  intending  to 
retire  to  Orleans,  where,  in  case  of  need,  he  should 
"  know  how   to  defend  himself."     This  notifica- 
tion was  also  received  by  the  Cardinal  with  low 
reverence ;  and  his  Highness  then  departed,  making 
signs  to  his  cavaliers  to  close  round  him,  so  that 
Richelieu  might  be  prevented  from  conducting 
him  to  his  coach.     Monsieur  then  repaired  to  the 
Luxembourg  to  hold  final  conference  with  the 
Queen-mother   on  the  order  and  method  of  the 
seditious  risings  they  contemplated  in  the  pro- 
vinces.    As  her  quota  towards  the  fund  requisite 
to     organise    the    demonstrations,    Marie    gave 
200,000  francs,  and  jewels  to  a  large  amount.    She 
also  delivered  to  Monsieur  the  diamonds  which 
had    belonged    to    his    late    wife ; 20   which,  by 
the    King's    command,    had    been    intrusted   to 
her  guardianship  for   her  infant  grand-daughter 


226  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [163O- 

Mademoiselle,  whose  nursery  was  in  the  adjacent 
palace  of  the  Tuileries.  Monsieur  was  also  in- 
formed, by  another  "  exalted  personage,"  that 
the  Spanish  Government  had  paid  in  a  large  sum 
to  his  credit  in  the  bank  at  Brussels,  to  be  applied 
to  purposes  heretofore  agreed  upon.  The  exhor- 
tations and  commendations  of  his  mother  and 
sister-in-law  raised  the  Duke's  opinion  of  his 
prowess  and  power,  and  persuaded  him  that 
their  great  enemy  must  disappear  before  his  first 
hostile  manifesto.  Letters  were  then  signed  and 
despatched  to  the  exiled  Princes,  to  the  Duke  de 
Montmorency,  to  the  chieftains  of  Rohan  and  to 
the  Duke  de  Bouillon,  whose  possession  of  the 
independent  principality  and  fortress  of  Sedan 
rendered  him  an  important  ally  in  any  seditious 
rising.  Monsieur  next  wrote  to  the  King  his 
brother  assurances  of  personal  zeal  and  devoted 
loyalty ;  this  missive  he  despatched  by  his 
equerry  Chaudebonne  as  he  entered  his  coach  to 
quit  Paris  ;  for  Gaston  wisely  deemed  his  liberty 
in  danger,  if,  after  the  warlike  notification  he  had 
made  in  the  morning  at  the  Palais  Cardinal  he 
spent  another  night  in  Paris.  The  same  night 
Marie  feigned  to  be  overwhelmed  with  consterna- 
tion. On  learning  the  flight  from  Paris  of  M. 
d'Orleans,  she  despatched  a  gentleman  of  her 
household,  named  Villiers,  to  the  King  to  explain 
her  dismay  at  "  this  ill-advised  step  of  her  mis- 
guided son  " ;  the  shock  of  which  had  caused  her 
almost  to  faint 21  on  learning  that  Monsieur  had 
actually  quitted  the  capital.  From  the  lips  of  his 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  227 

minister,  however,  and  by  the  unerring  pages  of 
the  Cardinal's  famous  Diary,  Louis  had  been 
initiated  step  by  step  in  the  intrigue,  and  had 
been  brought  round  to  the  opinion,  that  his 
mother  was  ready  to  sacrifice  himself  and  his 
realm  in  the  pursuit  of  her  revenge  and  ambition. 
The  following  morning  Louis  visited  the  Queen- 
mother  at  the  Luxembourg,  and  a  scene  of 
mutual  reproach  and  violence  ensued,  during 
which  Marie  was  compelled  to  acknowledge  that 
she  had  given  the  Montpensier  diamonds  to  her 
son  for  purposes  which  she  pretended  to  ignore. 
She  nevertheless  betrayed  her  influence  over  Mon- 
sieur at  this  crisis,  by  offering  to  effect  his  return 
to  Paris,  provided  that  the  King  granted  him 
carte  blanche  respecting  his  marriage  either  with 
Marie  de  Gonzague  or  with  the  Princess  Mar- 
guerite of  Lorraine,  and  gave  him  the  investiture 
of  the  fortresses  and  governments  of  1'Isle  de 
France,  Soissons,  Coussi,  Charny,  Laon  and  Mont- 
pellier.  Louis  absolutely  refused  ;  adding,  "  that 
he  doubted  not  Monsieur  would  soon  be  brought 
to  reason  and  to  obedience."  His  Majesty  then 
requested  the  Queen  to  retire  for  an  interval  from 
court,  as  his  government  was  unhappily  so  dis- 
tasteful, and  suggested  that  her  dower  castle  of 
Moulins  would  be  an  appropriate  residence.  Louis, 
moreover,  commanded  her  to  withdraw  her  sup- 
port from  the  exiled  Princes,  and  to  remain  abso- 
lutely neutral  in  the  pending  contest  excited  by 
her  agents.  The  King  then  took  his  leave,  before 
her  Majesty  had  recovered  from  the  first  effects  of 


228  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1630- 

her  surprise  and  fury  on  hearing  such  proposi- 
tions. The  next  day  Marie  sent  her  confessor,  le 
Pere  Souffran,22  to  decline  obeying  the  commands 
of  her  son,  "  as  her  proposed  sojourn  at  Moulins 
was  only  a  subtle  snare  of  the  Cardinal  to  entice 
her  from  Paris,  that  her  person  might  be  seized 
and  her  liberty  endangered." 2S  A  council  was 
therefore  summoned,  when  it  was  decided  to  give 
her  Majesty  the  alternative  of  signing  a  document 
in  which  she  engaged  herself  by  a  solemn  promise 
not  to  undertake,  abet  or  encourage  risings  in  the 
realm,  and  to  withdraw  protection,  friendship 
and  communication  from  all  persons  exiled  by  the 
King  for  political  offences.  Marie  returned  the 
document  accompanied  by  a  written  refusal ;  as 
she  said,  "  experience  had  proved  to  her  that  the 
opponents  of  M.  de  Richelieu  were  considered  as 
the  foes  of  the  King ;  and  that  she  was  not  dis- 
posed to  sacrifice  her  friends  and  dependents  to 
the  evil  wrath  of  the  said  minister."  A  second 
council  was  then  assembled,  at  which  Richelieu 
spoke,  after  he  had  been  commanded  expressly 
so  to  do  by  Louis.  With  the  eloquence  and 
precision  in  facts  for  which  he  was  renowned, 
Richelieu  obeyed.  He  represented  "  that  the 
Emperor,  the  Kings  of  Spain  and  England,  and 
the  Dukes  of  Savoy  and  Lorraine,  jealous  of  the 
glory  of  Louis,  and  unable  to  mar  the  prosperity  of 
France  by  open  warfare,  sought  to  effect  their 
object  by  troubling  the  kingdom  by  secret  in- 
trigue and  seduction:  that  considerable  sums 
had  been  subscribed  for  that  purpose  by  Spain 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  229 

and  England  ;    while  a  contingent  of  troops  had 
been  promised  by  Germany.     Sire,  the  Duke  of 
Lorraine  and  his  kindred  of  Guise  have  dared  to 
brave  your  authority  and  that  of  our  venerated 
Parliament.     The  malcontents  are  supported  by 
the  approval  of  her  Majesty  your   consort  and 
by   Queen  Marie — a   fact   incredible  almost  and 
unparalleled  in  the  annals  of  history.     Monsieur, 
therefore,  will  never  make  submission  while  he  is 
supported  by  the  Queen-mother,  and  as  long  as 
this  Princess  remains  at  court  she  is  formidable, 
inasmuch  as  the  power  of  procuring  the  dismissal 
of  your  minister  is  attributed  to  her.     In  the 
midst  of  such  intrigues  and  insubordination,  order 
becomes  impossible — sedition  will  increase,  and 
on  your  first  indisposition,  Sire,  the  Queen-mother 
will  render  herself    master  of  your  person  and 
state.     Your  faithful  servants  cannot  defend  you 
—happy,  indeed,  will  they  be  if  they  can  shield 
themselves  from  the  vengeance  of  two  Princesses 
whose  anger  we  know  to  be  implacable."     Riche- 
lieu then  proposed  the  arrest  of  Marie  de5  Medici ; 
"  a  decree  which  it  would  be  advisable  to  execute 
with  every  forbearance  and  honour  possible,  but 
with  every  precaution  and  resolution  ;   as,  if  the 
affair  be  attempted  and  fail,  the  condition  of  the 
realm  will  be  worse  than  before."  Every  metaphor 
of  deprecation,  regret   and   condolence  is  abun- 
dantly employed  by  the  skilful  minister  in  this 
oration,   which    nevertheless   terminates  by  ex- 
horting his  Majesty    "  to  be  brave  and  politic, 
and  to  remember  that  an  able  surgeon,  when 


230  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1630- 

severing  a  diseased  limb,  is  careless  of  the  amount 
of  blood  which  he  sheds."  Should  Louis,  never- 
theless, in  his  wisdom  judge  it  expedient  to 
tolerate  the  present  order  of  affairs,  Richelieu 
emphatically  demanded  release  from  the  toil  and 
perils  of  office.  All  the  members  of  the  council 
present  applauded  this  harangue.  Louis  lay  back 
thoughtfully  in  his  chair,  with  a  face  expressive  of 
blank  consternation  ;  and  in  reply  to  the  en- 
treaties of  the  lords  present,  promised  to  advise 
privately  with  his  minister  and  to  take  a  definite 
resolution. 

When  news  of  these  troubles  reached  England, 
Charles  I.  blamed  the  blind  violence  and  obsti- 
nacy of  Marie  de'  Medici.  "  The  Queen  your 
mother  is  in  the  wrong,"  said  King  Charles  to 
his  consort  Henrietta  Maria.  "  The  Cardinal  de 
Richelieu  has  rendered  glorious  services  to  the 
King  his  master.  These  intrigues  remind  one  of 
an  accusation  levelled  by  the  Roman  people 
against  Scipio,  who  listened  calmly  and  then  ex- 
claimed :  '  I  remember  only,  fellow-citizens,  that 
on  this  day  I  defeated  the  Carthaginian  army. 
Romans !  let  us  repair  to  the  Capitol  and  return 
thanks  to  the  Gods.'  If  I  had  been,  therefore,  in 
the  place  of  the  Cardinal,  I  should  have  contented 
myself  with  observing  to  your  brother  :  '  Sire, 
within  two  years  La  Rochelle  has  fallen  ;  thirty - 
five  Huguenot  towns  have  capitulated ;  Casale 
has  been  twice  relieved  ;  Savoy  and  the  half  of 
Piedmont  have  been  conquered.  Sire,  these 
successes,  the  result  of  my  care  and  labour  are 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  231 

the  guarantees  which  I  offer  to  you  for  my  ability, 
my  loyalty  and  my  fidelity.'  Where,  then, 
Madame,  would  have  appeared,  in  the  face  of 
these  great  triumphs,  the  paltry  complaints  of 
Queen  Marie  ?  "  24 

To  accomplish  the  purpose  meditated  by  the 
Cardinal  great  address  was  required.  The  King 
shrunk  from  violent  measures25  against  his 
mother,  and  again  sought  to  move  her  gener- 
ous forbearance.  Finding  persuasion  fail,  Louis 
ordered  a  departure  of  the  court  for  Compiegne, 
at  the  suggestion  of  Richelieu,  who  comforted 
his  Majesty  by  inspiring  a  hope  that  the  Queen- 
mother  might  be  more  accessible  when  away  from 
Paris,  if  indeed  Marie  consented  to  leave  the 
Luxembourg,  which  she  had  vowed  never  again 
to  venture. 

The  young  Queen  received  a  command  which 
she  dared  not  disobey,  to  repair  to  Compiegne 
attended  by  Madame  de  Senece,  by  Madame  de  la 
Flotte  and  by  Marie  de  Hautefort,  whom  the 
Cardinal,  by  every  species  of  cajolerie,  was  trying 
to  win  over  to  his  interests.  The  court  arrived  at 
Compiegne  about  the  17th  of  February.  The  King 
was  joined  en  route  at  Senlis  by  Marie  de'  Medici, 
who,  remembering  the  result  of  the  abandonment 
of  her  son  on  the  memorable  Journee  des  Dupes, 
now  hastened  with  her  accustomed  precipitation 
to  help  her  enemy  in  consummating  the  coup 
d'etat  which  he  had  plotted.  A  prudent  and 
politic  princess  would  still  have  extricated  herself 
from  the  dilemma,  and  have  converted  the 


232  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1630- 

visible  abasement  into  which  she  had  fallen  into 
a  triumph  of  magnanimity.  Marie  de'  Medici, 
however,  headstrong  and  short-sighted,  attempted 
to  subdue  her  enemy  by  sullen  pertinacity.  Riche- 
lieu still  hesitated  to  offer  final  defiance  to  his  late 
benefactress,  while  the  King,  with  tears  drawn 
forth  by  his  own  lugubrious  forebodings,  be- 
sought his  minister  to  try  once  more  to  move 
the  compassion  and  clemency  of  the  Queen.  In 
obedience  to  this  order,  Richelieu  entered  the 
chapel  of  the  old  castle  of  St.  Germain  on  the 
Sunday  following,  and  meeting  Queen  Marie  as 
she  was  leaving  the  altar  after  receiving  the  Holy 
Sacrament,  he  fell  at  her  feet  and  conjured  her  to 
forgive  him  his  transgressions.26  Marie  haughtily 
retreated  ;  when  the  Cardinal,  rising,  approached 
the  altar  whereon  the  Sacred  Elements  were  ex- 
posed, and  taking  the  cup  in  his  hand  made  a 
solemn  vow  that  in  nothing  had  he  willingly  or 
maliciously  offended  her  Majesty,  but  that  he 
still  continued  in  the  mind  to  serve  her  as  his  best 
benefactress  and  mistress.  The  Queen  eyed  the 
Cardinal  for  a  few  minutes  in  silence,  and  a  softer 
expression  stole  over  her  face  ;  she,  however, 
finally  turned  away  and  without  vouchsafing 
a  word  quitted  the  chapel.  When  Louis  was 
informed  of  the  failure  of  this  attempt  at 
conciliation  he  rose  with  sudden  impulse 
and  signified  his  assent  to  the  measures  proposed 
by  Richelieu. 

A  rumour,  meantime,  had  been  spread  by  the 
adherents    of    Queen    Marie    that    her    Majesty 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  233 

intended  to  leave  Compiegne  speedily,  "as  it  was 
not  her  intention  to  share  the  deliberations  of  the 
council,  nor  longer  to  sanction  by  her  presence 
the  infamous  mandates  of  M.  de  Richelieu."  Louis 
therefore  signed  the  requisite  mandates  necessary 
for  the  detention  of  the  Queen-mother,  and  the 
arrest  of  her  most  zealous  adherents.  It  was 
determined,  moreover,  that  same  night  to  execute 
the  project,  by  leaving  Marie  at  Compiegne 
under  the  charge  and  surveillance  of  the  Marshal 
d'Estrees  and  his  regiment  of  guards,  then  on 
duty  in  and  about  the  palace.  The  design  was 
well  considered,  feasible,  and  avoided  violence  or 
show  of  disrespect  to  the  unhappy  Princess. 
D'Estrees  was  one  of  the  most  polished  of  the 
courtiers,  a  nobleman  of  wit,  refined  manners 
and  savoir-faire.  He  unhesitatingly  undertook  the 
office  pressed  upon  him  ;  he  promised  to  Richelieu 
unwearied  vigilance  and  fidelity,  and  assured  the 
King  that  no  effort  on  his  part  should  be  wanting 
to  reconcile  the  Queen  to  her  position  and  to 
induce  her  to  make  overtures  likely  to  prove 
satisfactory  to  his  Majesty  and  the  realm.  One 
by  one  the  gentlemen  in  attendance  on  the 
King  were  summoned  and  instructed  to  meet 
their  royal  master  at  midnight  in  the  Capuchin 
monastery  of  Compiegne,  under  an  injunction 
of  strict  secrecy. 

Anne  of  Austria,  meantime,  retired  at  her  usual 
hour  unsuspicious  that  any  event  of  moment  im- 
pended. Louis  had  too  little  faith  in  her  loyalty 
and  discretion  to  impart  his  design  ;  neither,  it  is 


234  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [leso- 

to  be  feared,  was  he  greatly  concerned  at  the 
fright  likely  to  be  inflicted  by  the  sudden  revela- 
tion of  so  startling  an  event.  Anne  had  passed 
the  evening  in  the  apartments  of  Marie  de'  Medici 
and  had  returned  therefrom  much  depressed.  In 
the  middle  of  the  night  the  Queen  and  her  ladies, 
Mesdames  de  Senece  and  de  la  Flotte,  were 
aroused  by  a  loud  knocking  at  the  door  of  the 
antechamber.  The  blows  were  repeated  with 
greater  energy  and  voices  were  heard  without. 
Anne  opened  her  curtains  in  affright,  and  called 
Madame  de  Senece,  who  directed  Mademoiselle 
Filandre,  a  femme  de  chambre,  to  inquire  who  the 
intruders  were,  and  their  business.27  "  It  is  the 
King,  the  King  !  '"  exclaimed  Anne,  fearfully  ; 
"  open  to  his  Majesty  ! "  The  sound  of  male 
voices  and  the  ring  of  arms  now  reached  the  ears 
of  the  eager  listeners.  Daylight  just  glimmered  ; 
and  all  the  Queen's  ladies  and  women,  pale  with 
fright,  crowded  round  their  royal  mistress.  "  A 
thousand  fearful  thoughts  then  agitated  the  mind 
of  the  Queen,"  relates  Madame  de  Motteville. 
"  She  had  every  reason  to  distrust  the  King  her 
husband  ;  and,  as  she  confided  to  me,  she  be- 
lieved that  some  dreadful  event  was  about  to 
happen  to  her  :  the  least  that  she  expected  being, 
that  she  was  to  be  banished  from  the  realm. 
Looking  upon  the  next  few  minutes  as  the  su- 
preme moments  of  her  fate,  the  Queen  prepared 
herself  for  the  emergency,  and  summoned  all  her 
courage.  She  had  a  firm  mind  and  a  resolute  will ; 
and  I  doubt  not,  judging  from  what  her  Majesty 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  235 

told  me  when  relating  these  particulars,  that  the 
first  shock  being  over,  she  would  have  received 
with  the  utmost  resignation  and  patience  the  fate 
Heaven  had  destined  her  to  endure."  The  Queen's 
suspense  was  at  length  relieved  by  the  return  of 
Mademoiselle  Filandre,  with  the  intelligence  that 
Monseigneur  the  Lord  Keeper  Chateauneuf  de- 
sired to  speak  to  her  Majesty  on  behalf  of  the 
King.  Anne  rose  from  her  bed,  and  putting  on 
the  robe  de  chambre  presented  by  Madame  de 
Senece,  who  afterwards  described  herself  as  "  plus 
morte  que  vive,"  ordered  M.  de  Chateauneuf  to  be 
admitted.  Chateauneuf  bowed  before  his  young 
mistress  as  she  tremblingly  advanced  with  flushed 
cheeks  and  in  utter  disarray.  "  Madame,"  said 
he,  "  I  have  to  make  known  to  your  Majesty  the 
orders  which  I  have  received  from  the  lips  of  the 
King  our  master.  To  insure  the  welfare  of  this 
realm,  his  Majesty  finds  himself  compelled  to 
leave  his  mother  at  Compiegne  under  the  sur- 
veillance of  the  Marshal  d'Estrees.  It  is  therefore 
his  Majesty's  command,  that  you  attempt  not 
an  interview  with  her  said  Majesty,  the  Queen- 
mother,  but  that  you  immediately  hasten  to  the 
church  of  the  Capuchin  convent  where  his  Ma- 
jesty expects  you."28  Chateauneuf  then  withdrew, 
before  the  emotion  of  the  Queen  permitted  her  to 
reply.  The  lord-keeper,  however,  managed  to 
whisper  an  injunction  into  the  ear  of  the  Marquise 
de  Senece  to  hasten  the  preparations  of  her  young 
mistress  unless  she  wished  to  see  her  involved  in 
the  same  disgrace  as  her  mother-in-law.  Anne 


236  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1630- 

soon  recovered  her  accustomed  coolness  and  de- 
cision, and  with  many  anathemas  on  the  Cardi- 
nal's audacity  and  tyranny,  she  refused  to  leave 
the  palace  without  a  parting  interview  with  Marie 
de'  Medici.     Time  wras  elapsing,  and  the  King's 
orders  had  been  precise  that  Anne  should  not  see 
the  Queen-mother  but  hasten  to  join  him  in  the 
church  of  the  Capuchins.     Madame  de  Senece, 
knowing  the  wayward  perverseness  of  her  mistress, 
and  anxious  to  save    her  from  a  direct  act  of 
disobedience  in  a  juncture  of  such  importance, 
proposed  that  Mademoiselle  Filandre  should  be 
despatched   on   a   journey   of   discovery   to   the 
Queen's    apartments,   from  whence    she    should 
bring  a  message  from  Marie,  in  case  her  Majesty 
still  remained  ignorant  of  the  coup  d'etat,  express- 
ing a  desire  to  see  Queen  Anne.    The  apartments 
of  the  Queen-mother  were  silent  and  undisturbed. 
Filandre  made  her  way  to  the   bed  of  Caterina 
Selvaggio,  chief  tirewoman,  and    whispered  an 
agitated  entreaty  that  Queen  Marie  would  send  to 
request  an  interview  with  her   daughter-in-law, 
as    her  Majesty  had  something  to  impart  and 
dared  not  leave  her  apartments  unsummoned. 
This  ruse  succeeded ;    Marie,  ever  on  the  alert, 
sent  Caterina  to    summon   Queen   Anne    under 
pretext  that   she   had  had  an   agitating   dream 
and  found  herself  indisposed.     Anne  flew  to  the 
apartments   of   Marie,  followed   by   Madame   de 
Sendee    carrying    a    portion    of    her     mistress's 
attire.29    Marie  was  sitting  up  in  bed,  clasping  her 
knees,  with  a  face  of  deepest  woe.     Anne  threw 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  237 

herself  in  the  arms  of  the  unhappy  princess,  sob- 
bing forth  the  words,;"  Oh  !  ma  mere,  ma  mere — I 
am  to  leave  you — I  have  not  an  instant  to  explain 

—the  King  expects  me  at  the  Capuchin  church  !  ' 
"  Ma  fille,  am  I  to  die  ? — am  I  a  prisoner  ?  Speak ! 
The  King,  does  he  desert  me  ?  What  is  to  become 
of  me  ?  "  Anne  then  signed  to  Madame  de  Senece 
to  retire  out  of  hearing,  and  while  she  finished 
dressing,  she  recounted  all  that  had  befallen  her, 
with  the  order  signified  by  Chateauneuf.  With 
many  tears  the  princesses  then  embraced  and 
separated.30 

King  Louis  received  his  consort  in  the  choir  of 
the  Capuchin  church.  His  Majesty  was  attended 
by  the  Cardinal  minister,  by  Chateauneuf,  by  the 
abbot  of  the  Capuchins  and  by  a  swarm  of  cour- 
tiers, many  of  whom  had  been  roused  from  their 
beds  to  join  the  King  and  scarcely  yet  com- 
prehended their  position.  Two  ladies  also  were 
present — Madame  de  la  Flotte  and  her  lovely 
grand-daughter.  The  King  briefly  recapitulated 
his  reason  for  the  arrest  of  the  Queen  his  mother. 
"  Madame,"  continued  his  Majesty,  addressing 
his  consort,  "  the  indiscretions  of  Madame  de 
Fargis  having  caused  her  removal  from  your 
service,  I  present  to  you  in  her  stead  Madame  de 
la  Flotte  Hauterive ;  and  for  second  dame  (Valours, 
Mademoiselle  Marie  de  Hautefort.  For  both  these 
ladies  I  request  your  favour."  31  Anne  had  hitherto 
steadily  declined  to  permit  any  lady  to  fulfil  the 
functions  of  the  exiled  Madame  de  Fargis  ;32  she 
was,  however,  now  compelled  to  put  the  best  face 


238  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1630- 

on  the  matter,  as  the  King  was  evidently  in  no 
humour  to  be  trifled  with.  "  Elle  les  recut  toutes 
deux  faisant  la  meilleure  mine  du  monde,"  relates 
Madame  de  Motteville.  Anne,  however,  still 
clung  to  her  de  Fargis,  who  like  herself  was  an 
adherent  of  the  Queen-mother,  of  Spain  and  of 
the  French  malcontents,  and  she  viewred  her  new 
ladies,  especially  Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort,  not 
only  as  her  rival  in  the  King's  favour,  but  as  an 
enemy  and  a  spy  in  the  pay  of  the  Cardinal. 

Marie  de  Hautefort  was  the  daughter  of  Charles, 
Marquis  de  Hautefort,  and  of  Renee  du  Belley.  At 
this  period  she  had  accomplished  her  eighteenth 
year.  Her  beauty  was  less  dazzling  than  that  of 
Madame  de  Chevreuse,  but  of  a  nobler  type.  The 
expression  of  her  features  was  serious  and 
thoughtful ;  she  was  pious,  ambitious,  sedate  in 
manner  and  reserved  to  a  surprising  degree  for  a 
damsel  of  her  age  so  early  introduced  at  the  court 
of  France.  When  Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort 
spoke  she  did  so  advisedly  ;  her  language  was 
well  chosen  and  perfectly  expressed  her  ideas. 
The  poor  but  illustrious  family  from  which  Marie 
sprang  had  little  to  bestow  on  a  younger  daughter 
of  their  race  and  she  had  been  destined  for  the 
cloister.  Louis,  however,  had  now  resolved  that 
Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort  should  be  drafted  into 
the  household  of  the  young  Queen,  as  he  found 
indescribable  consolation  in  her  repose  of  manner, 
decorous  discourse  and  sweet  smiles.  Marie,  on 
her  part,  professed  respectful  devotion  for  Louis 
Treize,  and  exalted  him  into  a  hero  whose 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  239 

domestic  misfortunes  inspired  profound  sympathy. 
The  two,  however,  had  never  met  in  private,  for 
their  interviews  were  holden  in  a  small  cabinet 
adjacent  to  the  saloon  in  which  Marie  de'  Medici 
received  the  court.  The  King  with  a  triste  ex- 
pression on  his  sallow,  pensive  face,  sat  and  sighed 
by  the  object  of  his  admiration,  who,  serenely 
gracious,  entertained  him  with  the  on  dits  of  con- 
ventual gossip,  or  related  her  early  reminiscences 
of  rural  life,  in  which  his  Majesty  seemed  to  take 
deep  interest. 

The  King  and  Queen,  after  their  salutations  in 
the  grey  twilight  of  this  February  morning,  com- 
manded mass  to  be  said  before  they  quitted  the 
chapel.  Louis  seized  the  opportunity  to  indicate 
that  a  fresh  influence  had  dawned  over  the  court. 
The  maids  of  the  Queen,  according  to  custom,  sat 
and  knelt  on  the  ground  during  mass,  the  ladies  of 
honour  having  alone  the  privilege  of  cushions  and 
stools.  The  King,  observing  this,  rose,  and  taking 
the  velvet  cushion  of  his  own  prie-Dieu,  sent  it 
to  Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort  with  a  gracious 
gesture.  Marie  blushed,  for  she  felt  that  the  eyes 
of  all  persons  present  were  watching  her.  She,  in 
her  turn,  looked  anxiously  at  Queen  Anne,  who 
signed  to  her  to  take  the  cushion.  Marie  obeyed, 
but  modestly  laid  it  by  her,  and  when  mass  was 
concluded  she  rose,  and  with  a  deep  obeisance 
returned  the  cushion  to  the  Bang.33  Louis  con- 
tinued his  journey  with  the  court  to  Senlis.  There, 
many  victims  were  sacrificed  to  the  hate  and  to 
the  fears  of  Richelieu  ;  arrests  perhaps  rendered 


240  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1630- 

necessary  by  the  catastrophe  of  Marie's  detention 
at  Compiegne.  An  hour  after  his  arrival  in 
Senlis,  M.  Vaultier,  Marie's  obnoxious  physician 
and  friend,  was  on  his  way  to  the  Bastille  under 
escort.  Lettres  de  cachet  were  despatched  by  M. 
de  la  Ville-aux-Clercs  to  the  Princesse  de  Conty, 
Marguerite  de  Lorraine-Guise,  the  intimate  com- 
panion of  the  Queens,  and  the  wife  of  Bassom- 
pierre,  which  exiled  her  to  the  castle  of  Eu, 
permitting  her  only  six  hours  to  set  out  from 
Paris.  On  the  24th  of  February,  Bassompierre,  the 
brilliant  and  popular  trifler,  was  arrested,  osten- 
sibly as  a  partizan  of  Marie  de'  Medici,  but  as  it 
was  surmised  to  avenge  the  counsel  which  he  had 
given  at  Lyons  in  1630,  to  imprison  Richelieu  for 
life.  It  was  also  debated  in  council  to  arrest  the 
Duke  d'Epernon  and  the  Marshal  de  Crequi.  The 
Duchesses  d'Elbceuf,  de  Rohan,  d'Ornano  like- 
wise received  an  order  to  retire  from  Paris.  All 
things  seemed  now  at  the  feet  of  the  victorious 
minister  ;  he  possessed  the  ear  of  the  King,  and 
directed  at  will  the  resources  and  alliances  of  the 
realm.  The  enemies  which  remained  to  be  over- 
thrown Richelieu  prepared  to  do  battle  against 
in  the  full  conviction  of  eventual  triumph. 

Queen  Marie  was  at  first  paralysed  by  grief  and 
amazement  at  her  detention.  For  hours,  it  is  re- 
corded, she  wept  with  passionate  excitement,34  and 
threatened  the  authors  of  her  disgrace  with  future 
retribution.  From  the  hour  of  her  arrest  Richelieu 
never  intended  to  promote  her  reconciliation  with 
Louis,  and  from  Paris  and  the  court  she  was  for 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  241 

ever  to  be  exiled  so  long  as  the  Cardinal  retained 
power.      Nevertheless  Richelieu  deemed  it  politic 
to  temporise — the  conscience    and  the  filial  feel- 
ings of  King  Louis  might  prompt  him  to  annul  the 
act  accomplished  after  so  many  relentings  and 
doubts.     It  is  certain  that  Marie  was  urged,  nay 
implored,  to   leave   Compiegne  and  take  up  her 
abode  at  Moulins,  unfettered  by  restrictions  of  any 
kind  except    her  parole    not  to  leave  the  town 
without  the  permission  of  her  son.     The  letters 
addressed  to  his  mother  by  Louis  in  this  sorrow- 
ful   crisis   of    their  history   are   forbearing  and 
modest.      His  first  letter  after  their  separation, 
written  at  the  beginning  of  the  following  month 
of  March,  contains  the  following  passage  : 86  "  The 
continual  excuses  which  it  has  pleased  you  to 
assign  against  taking  up  your  abode  in  your  house 
at  Moulins  render  it  necessary  for  me  again  to 
remind  you  how  requisite  it  is  for  the  welfare  of 
my  realm,  that  you  should  yield  to  the  entreaties 
that  I  have  aforetime  made  and  make  again.    You 
would   be   there   accommodated   more   at   your 
pleasure  and  mine,   as  you  would  not  be  sur- 
rounded with  unpleasant  facts  as  at  Compiegne. 
Neither,  Madame,  is  it  true  that  the  plague  is 
raging  at  Moulins  nor  that  your  house  there  is  out 
of  repair  ;  nevertheless,  as  I  have  told  you  before, 
you  can,  if  you  choose,  stay  at  Nevers.      I  am 
writing  on  the  subject  to  the  Marshal  d'Estrees  ; 
you  will   therefore,  if  it  pleases  you,  give  credit 
to  anything  which  he  may  impart  to  you  in  my 
name."     In  answer  to  this  letter,  Queen  Marie 

Q 


242  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [leao- 

writes  to  inform  her  son,  that  indisposition  has 
hitherto  prevented  her  from  setting  out  to 
Moulins  :  she  then  reproaches  him  bitterly  for  his 
abandonment  of  her  ;  avers  that  she  has  been 
always  a  good  and  conscientious  mother,  and 
that  the  reward  which  she  now  reaps  for  count- 
less privations  and  devoted  zeal  for  the  interests 
of  his  Majesty  and  the  realm,  is,  that  she  is 
sacrificed  to  the  vengeance  of  her  bitter  foe  ! 
Finally,  her  Majesty  asserts  that  her  health  is  not 
in  condition  to  undertake  so  long  a  journey  ;  that 
her  nerves  are  shaken  ;  and  that  she  may  as  well 
meet  death,  if  such  be  her  son's  will,  at  Com- 
piegne  as  in  a  lone  castle,  badly  drained,  where 
she  would  be  in  the  power  of  M.  le  Premier,  who 
coveted  her  life  and  was  ready  to  sanction  any 
unhallowed  act  of  violence.36  Driven  thus  into  a 
corner  by  her  enemy  the  Cardinal,  Marie  de' 
Medici  had  not  the  tact  to  dissimulate  her  resent- 
ment and  depit  ;  her  protests  against  the  outrage 
to  which  she  had  been  subjected  resounded 
throughout  the  realm  and  at  the  courts  of  London, 
Madrid  and  Brussels.  The  Queen  drew  up  a 
violent  diatribe  against  the  Cardinal,  which  she  for- 
warded to  the  Parliament  of  Paris.  The  members, 
however,  prudently  transmitted  the  document  to 
the  King  with  its  seals  unbroken.  The  Marquis  de 
Mirabel  meantime,  instigated  by  Anne  of  Austria, 
asked  audience  of  King  Louis  on  behalf  of  his 
Catholic  Majesty,  Don  Philip  IV.,  to  intercede  for 
the  Queen-mother,  and  to  request  permission  to 
visit  her  Majesty  at  Compiegne.  Louis  wrathfully 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  243 

refused  permission.  "  Sire,  apparently  then  her 
Majesty  is  a  prisoner  under  arrest  ?  >:  "  Mon- 
seigneur,  nobody  but  ignorant  people  or  people 
perversely  malignant  will  so  assert,"  answered 
the  King,  impatiently.  "I  find  it,  however, 
strange  that  the  King  of  Spain  should  interfere  ; 
foreign  princes  have  no  right  to  intervene  in  such 
matters.  Remember,  M.  1'Ambassadeur,  that 
when  the  ambassador  of  Charles  IX.  asked  per- 
mission to  see  Queen  Elizabeth  de  Valois,  a 
daughter  of  France,  he  could  not  obtain  his  desire. 
I  will  not  recur,  Monsieur,  to  the  sequel  of  that 
unhappy  history ;  suffice  for  the  present,  that  you 
have  no  reason  to  take  amiss  my  decision  in  this 
matter  !  "  "  The  King  spoke  thus,"  relates  the 
Cardinal  in  his  Journal,  "  because  the  Queen  his 
mother  had  boasted  to  his  Majesty  that  the 
Spanish  ambassador  was  privy  to  all  her  intrigues 
for  the  ruin  of  the  Cardinal."  37 

Louis  continued  his  correspondence  with  his 
mother  from  Dijon,  where  he  had  arrived  at  the 
head  of  a  corps  d'armee  in  pursuit  of  Monsieur, 
who  on  receiving  the  intelligence  of  his  mother's 
arrest,  proclaimed  a  levy  of  troops  over  all  the 
lands  of  his  appanage,  and  fled  to  Nancy  after 
publishing  a  hostile  manifesto  against  Richelieu. 
His  Majesty  wrote  thus  from  Dijon  : 

LOUIS   XIII.    TO    QUEEN    MARIE    DE?    MEDICI88 

"  MADAME, — I  have  no  occasion  to  enter  into  ex- 
planations with  you  relative  to  the  reason  and 


244  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1630- 

just  causes  which  have  compelled  me  to  separate 
myself  from  you  for  an  interval,  for  nobody  under- 
stands such  better  than  yourself  ;  also  the  efforts 
I  have  made  to  save  both  yourself  and  me  from 
such  annoyance.     You  are  aware  that  remaining 
at  my  court,  offended  and  discontented  as  you 
have  for  some  time  declared  yourself  to  be,  pre- 
vented me  from  providing  remedy  to  put  down 
the  intrigues  which  there  abound,  and  failing  to 
subdue  which,  my  realm  and  my  person  are  in 
danger.    Nevertheless,  all  this  need  not  prevent 
me  from  feeling  and  testifying  for  you  the  respect 
and  the  friendship  which  you  can  expect  from  a 
good  son,  although  my  duty  to  my  subjects  and 
to  my  crown  is  esteemed  by  me  as  my  first  earthly 
calling.  Having  always  received  from  me  number- 
less proofs  of  regard,  I  feel  astonished  that  you 
should  imagine  that  I  am  capable  of  conceiving 
against    you    violent    resolutions :     believe    me, 
Madame,  that  such  thoughts  have  never  entered 
my  head,  nor  have  they  been  concerted  by  any  of 
my  servants.      For  what  end  or  aim  you  persist 
in  impressing  upon  the  world  that  your  ruin  is 
resolved  I  cannot  imagine,  when  all  the  evil  which 
you  have   hitherto   received  is   separation  from 
myself — a  fact  which  you  have  yourself  brought 
about  by  opposing  and  alienating  all  persons  who 
please  me  and  are  likely  to   serve   me  and   my 
realm.      I  hear  also,  with  extreme  displeasure, 
that  you  are  still  delaying  your  departure  from 
Compiegne.     If  indisposition  is  the  cause  of  your 
delay  I  shall  experience  a  double  annoyance,  but 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  245 

I  do  not  hear  that  your  illness  is  serious  enough  to 
prevent  you  from  travelling.  I  request  you 
therefore  to  set  out,  for  your  departure  is  im- 
portant to  my  crown  and  will  check  the  rumours 
which  you  have  spread  that  I  have  made  you  a 
prisoner.  At  Moulins  moreover,  you  will  have 
no  person  near  you  likely  to  offend  you  or  to 
curtail  in  any  way  your  freedom.  I  doubt  not 
therefore,  Madame,  that  you  will  promptly  comply 
with  my  desire,  the  which  accomplished,  you 
shall  always  receive  the  truest  tokens  of  regard 
and  honour  from,  Madame, 

"  Your  majesty's  humble  and  obedient  son, 

"  Louis." 

Marie  replied  in  tones  of  indignant  reproach  ; 
she  denies  that  she  had  ever  troubled  the  realm, 
and  asserts  that  M.  le  Cardinal  never  desired  re- 
conciliation and  was  not  sincere  in  his  overtures 
to  be  restored  to  her  good  graces.  "  Do  me  the 
favour,  if  it  pleases  you,  to  believe  that  it  is  out 
of  my  power  to  comply  with  your  Majesty's  com- 
mands to  leave  this  place  and  to  journey  towards 
Moulins.  I  beg  you  to  reflect,  that  having  re- 
ceived the  treatment  which  I  have,  I  possess  good 
cause  for  the  apprehensions  which  smite  me  and 
which  prevent  me  from  repairing  to  Moulins, 
from  which  place  I  might  be  seized  and  put  in  a 
boat  on  the  Rhone,  and  so,  against  my  will,  be 
transported  on  board  your  Majesty's  galleys, 
which  are  assembling  (at  Marseilles)  for  Italy. 
Italy,  it  is  true,  is  the  land  of  my  birth,  but  as  I 


246  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1630- 

brought  from  thence  into  France  all  the  wealth 
which  appertained  to  me,  there  remains  for  me, 
even  in  my  own  country,  neither  honour,  riches 
nor  refuge,  except  by  the  favour  of  distant  re- 
latives who  have  never  seen  me,  and  who  would 
have  great  right  to  decline  to  receive  me  in  their 
dominions,  seeing  that   my  own   son  could  not 
tolerate  me  nor  suffer  me  to  end  my  days  within  his 
potent  realm."  39   The  unhappy  princess  continues 
thus  throughout  a  long  letter  of  three  pages,  and 
her  despair  everywhere  transpires,  as  the  prompt- 
ings of  her  own  vindictive  temper  convinced  her 
that  Richelieu  would  never  permit  her  reconcilia- 
tion with  the  King,  or  share  his  power  with  one 
whom  he  had  so  mortally  offended.40     The  hopes 
of   the  Queen  for  liberty  and  revenge  centred  in 
her  second  son,  the  heir-presumptive.     Monsieur 
had  safely  arrived  in  Lorraine,  pursued  by  the 
victorious  arms  of  his  brother  to  the  very  walls  of 
Nancy.     Richelieu,    nevertheless,    found    it    re- 
quisite to  dissimulate  in  order  to  achieve  his  final 
purpose,  which  was  to  drive  Marie  de'  Medici  to 
a  voluntary  flight  from  the  realm,  by  practising 
on  her  rash  and  impulsive  temper  and   on  her 
dread  of  his  craft  and  enmity.41     In  this  design  he 
found  a   ready  ally  in  Pere   Joseph,   who  had 
managed  to  render  himself  agreeable  to  the  Queen 
and  was  not  suspected  by  her.     The  King  had 
evidently  misgivings,  and  perhaps  relentings,  in 
favour  of  his  mother,  nor  was  it  probable  that 
Louis  could  ever  be  induced  to  sign  against  her 
a  decree  of  exile  or  of  imprisonment  in  a  state 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  247 

fortress.  The  Cardinal  perceived  that  the  very 
tenure  of  his  power  depended  on  the  dissensions  of 
the  royal  family :  on  the  absence  of  his  haughty 
and  intriguing  patroness  ;  in  the  humiliation  of 
Queen  Anne  of  Austria  ;  the  disgrace  of  M.  d'Or- 
leans ;  the  banishment  of  the  Princes  of  the  blood 
royal  and  the  discontent  of  such  formidable 
vassals  of  the  crown  as  Bouillon,  Guise,  Rohan, 
Epernon  and  others.  Le  Pere  Joseph,  therefore, 
wrote  to  Marie,  offering  his  good  offices  to  recon- 
cile her  with  the  minister,  and  sent  his  missive 
by  a  humble  Capuchin  brother.  In  that  clever 
satire,  "  Le  Catolicon  Franyais,"  which  professes 
to  reveal  the  mental  craft  of  the  statesmen  of 
this  period,  Richelieu  is  made  thus  to  argue  : 
"  Whilst  I  diverted  that  good  lady  (Marie  de' 
Medici)  by  divers  journey  ings  to  and  from  Com- 
piegne,  I  built  up  and  cemented  by  Pere  Joseph 
the  old  suspicions  that  I  had  infused  on  both 
sides  ;  telling  the  King  that  Monsieur  was  the 
elder  born  in  his  mother's  affection  ;  and  to  the 
Queen,  that  her  son  who  piqued  himself  on  his 
powers  of  dissimulation  meant  to  snare,  entrap 
and  hold  her  captive."  Marie  de'  Medici,  mean- 
time, had  been  herself  busily  weaving  an  intrigue 
by  which  she  hoped  to  break  her  bonds  and  taste 
the  delights  of  revenge.  Marie  de  Beuil,  Countess 
de  Moret,  once  a  mistress  of  Henri  Quatre,  had 
espoused  the  son  of  the  Marquis  de  Vardes, 
governor  of  the  neighbouring  fortress  of  La 
Capelle,  and  resided  with  her  husband  in  that 
stronghold.  The  countess  found  means  to 


248  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [leso- 

communicate  secretly  with  the  Queen  and  offered 
to  receive  her  in  La  Capelle  provided  she  could 
escape  from  Compiegne.  Marie  eagerly  embraced 
the  overture ;  taking  the  precaution,  however,  to 
write  to  the  Archduchess  Isabel,  asking  for  tem- 
porary refuge  at  Brussels,  in  case  any  accident 
after  leaving  Compiegne  should  frustrate  her 
design.  The  Queen,  therefore,  escaped  the  sur- 
veillance of  her  jailors  at  ten  o'clock  on  the  night 
of  July  10th,  attended  only  by  La  Mazure,  lieu- 
tenant of  her  body-guard.42  Her  fears  had  been 
strongly  excited  during  the  preceding  day  by  the 
report  of  d'Estrees,  that  the  Marshal  Schomberg 
was  on  his  way  to  Compiegne  at  the  head  of  1200 
horse  to  convey  her  to  Marseilles,  where  she  was 
to  be  put  on  board  a  ship  bound  for  Leghorn. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  subtle  Richelieu,  aware 
of  the  Queen's  intrigues  with  Madame  de  Vardes, 
employed  gentle  pressure  to  urge  her  departure 
from  Compiegne,  and  had  taken  care  to  remove 
all  obstacles.  At  the  end  of  the  street  of  Com- 
piegne, the  Queen  found  a  coach  and  six,  provided 
by  Madame  de  Fresney,  niece  of  the  Bishop  of 
Leon,  who  took  her  uncle's  equipage  without  his 
knowledge  or  assent — a  freedom  which  nearly 
cost  the  bishop  his  see.43  The  Queen  passed  the 
river  Aisne  at  Choisy,  relays  of  horses  awaited 
her  along  the  road,  and  the  venture  appeared 
to  prosper  beyond  her  most  sanguine  hopes. 
Madame  de  Vardes,  however,  failed  to  meet  her 
Majesty  at  the  appointed  place — a  league  from  La 
Capelle.  After  an  interval  of  suspense  a  messen- 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  249 

ger  appeared,  who  announced  that  the  old  Mar- 
quis de  Vardes  had  suddenly  entered  La  Capelle, 
and  after  arresting  his   son   for   his   traitorous 
correspondence  with  the  Queen-mother,  had  sent 
Madame  de  Vardes  and  the  ladies  privy  to  the 
plot  to  deliver  up  the  fortress,  under  strong  escort 
to  Paris  to  await  the  stern  pleasure  of  the  Car- 
dinal.    Richelieu    received    daily    advices    from 
Compiegne,  all  of  which  he  jotted  down  in  his 
Journal.     Aware,  therefore,  of  the  design  of  the 
Queen  to  entrench  herself  in  La  Capelle,  he  had 
given  notice  to  the  Marquis  de  Vardes 44  to  circum- 
vent the  project  by  his  own  opportune  arrival. 
The  unfortunate  Marie,  therefore,  not  daring  to 
return  to  Compiegne,    took   the   road  with  the 
utmost  precipitation  to  the  town  of  Avesne,  where 
she  was  received  with  ostentatious  honour  by  the 
Marquis  de    Crevecceur.     A  messenger  was  de- 
spatched to  Brussels  to  inform  the  Infanta  Dona 
Isabel  of  the  Queen's  arrival.  The  Prince  d'Epinay, 
governor  of  the  province  of  Hainault,  received 
commands  to  attend  her  Majesty  to  Mons,  where 
the   Infanta  repaired  for  an  interview.     Marie, 
again  fatally  swayed  by  her  resentments,  suffered 
herself  to  be  escorted  by  the  Spanish  ambassador, 
the  Marquis  de  Aytona,  whom  she  subsequently 
deputed  to  compliment  and  thank  Dona  Isabel. 
The   frantic  anger  of    Louis  XIII.  against  his 
mother  needed  no  further  impetus  after  her  im- 
prudence had  been  expatiated  upon  in  council  by 
the  Cardinal  de  Richelieu.    In  reply  to  the  letter 
despatched  by  Marie,  the  King  wrote :  "  Madame, 


250  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         fieao- 

my  cousin  the  Cardinal  de  Richelieu  gives  me 
daily  numerous  proofs  of  devotion,  fidelity,  affec- 
tion and  sincerity.  He  pays  a  religious  defer- 
ence to  my  commands,  and  the  faithful  care 
he  gives  to  the  welfare  of  my  realm  and  my  own 
person  vouch  for  his  truth.  You  will  therefore 
permit  me,  Madame,  to  observe,  that  the  act 
which  you  have  just  committed  and  the  intrigues 
in  which  you  participate,  have  enlightened  me  as 
to  your  past  intentions  and  put  me  on  my  guard 
against  future  attempts.  The  respect,  Madame, 
which  I  ought  to  bear  you  prevents  me  from 
adding  more  to  this  epistle."  45 

Some  officious  person  at  this  season  remarked 
to  Anne  of  Austria,  that,  at  least,  M.  le  Cardinal 
showed  her  more  indulgence  and  respect  than  he 
had  vouchsafed  to  Queen  Marie.  Anne  assumed 
her  most  icy  manner  and  replied  with  scornful 
gesture,  "  There  can  and  shall  be  no  comparison 
between  the  Queen-mother  and  myself,  her  rank 
is  not  such  as  mine  ;  she  has  not  the  influence  and 
support  which  I  possess  and  which  I  have  the 
right  to  expect."  46 

The  triumphant  Richelieu  consummated  his 
victory  by  the  issue  of  a  proclamation  of  outlawry 
against  all  the  followers  of  the  Due  d'Orleans.  The 
names  of  the  proscribed  traitors  were  the  Count  de 
Moret,  natural  brother  of  the  King  ;  the  Dukes  de 
Bellegarde,  d'Elbceuf,  de  Rohan  ;  the  Presidents 
le  Coigneux  and  de  Payen,  and  M.  de  Puylaurent, 
le  P.  Chanteloube,47  confessor  to  Marie  de'  Medici ; 
and  Mousignot,  private  secretary  to  Monsieur. 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  251 

When  this  edict  was  sent  to  the  Parliament  to  be 
registered,  the  members  modified  the  decree 
against  the  adherents  of  the  heir-presumptive,  by 
entering  on  the  register  what  was  called  un  arret 
de  partage  ;  which  placed  on  record  the  names  of 
the  members  protesting  against  the  decree.  The 
King  therefore  commanded  the  attendance  of  the 
High  Court  in  the  great  gallery  of  the  Louvre. 
Louis  commanded  the  registers  to  be  laid  before 
him,  and  with  his  own  hand  he  tore  therefrom 
the  leaf  upon  which  the  act  had  been  inscribed 
under  protest.  The  King  then  caused  a  decree 
of  the  privy  council  to  be  inserted,  which  pro- 
hibited any  debate  in  the  Chambers  upon  matters 
relating  to  state  affairs — topics  which  appertained 
only  to  the  ministers  and  sworn  counsellors  of 
the  crown. 

Judicial  proceedings  were  next  instituted 
against  the  Countess  de  Fargis,  who  was  supposed 
to  be  lingering  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Paris  in 
disguise.  Such  was  the  terror  inspired  by  the 
late  proceedings  of  the  King  and  his  minister,  that 
the  friends  of  Anne  of  Austria  failed  in  their 
allegiance  to  her  service  and  caprice.  The  Abbess 
of  the  Val  de  Grace,48  stirred  by  a  significant  hint 
from  the  Palais  Cardinal  that  seditiously  inclined 
sisterhoods  had  been  dissolved  and  their  members 
draughted  into  more  loyal  communities,  hastened 
to  send  information  to  the  Cardinal  that  two 
suspicious  personages,  thought  to  be  Croft  and 
Montagu,  had  asked  at  the  gate  of  the  convent  to 
speak  with  her  Majesty  ;  moreover,  that  a  letter 


252  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1630- 

had  been  delivered  into  the  hands  of  the  Queen  by 
an  unknown  person  as  her  Majesty  entered  the 
nunnery  upon  her  first  visit  after  the  return  of  the 
court  from  Compiegne.  The  personages  mentioned 
in  the  letters  of  de  Fargis  taken  from  M.  Senelle 
were  arrested  and  subjected  to  severe  interro- 
gatories. Amongst  these  persons  were  the  Marquis 
de  Crequi  and  the  Count  de  Cramail,  M.  Senelle 
and  Mademoiselle  du  Tillet.  This  last  lady  de- 
posed that  she  had  twice  forwarded  letters  from 
the  accused  to  M.  de  Cramail ;  also  that  two  days 
after  the  return  of  the  court  from  Compiegne, 
Anne  had  sent  for  her  to  take  charge  of  a  letter 
which  her  Majesty  desired  secretly  to  forward  to 
de  Fargis,  but  that  the  Queen  had  decided  finally 
to  send  it  by  a  special  messenger.  "  I  feel  no 
surprise  that  Madame  de  Fargis  has  been  dis- 
missed from  the  Queen's  service ;  the  mystery 
is,  what  influence  could  ever  induce  M.  le  Cardinal 
to  sanction  the  nomination  of  une  femme  si 
decriee  to  the  first  office  in  her  Majesty's  house- 
hold !  " 49  was  the  malicious  comment  of  Made- 
moiselle du  Tillet,  in  allusion  to  the  notorious 
intrigues  which  once  subsisted  between  de  Fargis, 
Cramail,  Richelieu  and  the  disgraced  Lord- 
Keeper  de  Marillac.  As  the  countess  never 
surrendered  to  take  her  trial  in  obedience  to  the 
citation  of  the  criminal  court  sitting  at  the 
Arsenal,  judgment  was  allowed  to  go  by  default. 
The  award  of  the  court  declared  la  Dame  de 
Fargis  d'Angennes  guilty  of  high  treason  and 
sentenced  her  to  decapitation,  which  decree  was 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  253 

performed  on  an  effigy  of  the  countess  in  the 
Place  du  Carrefour  de  St.  Paul,  November  8th, 
1631.    M.  Senelle,  upon  whom  the  letters  of  the 
countess    were    found,    was    condemned    to    the 
galleys  for  life  ;   Vaultier  to  perpetual  imprison- 
ment in  the  Bastille.50     The  Marshal  de  Marillac, 
generalissimo  of  the  Italian  army,  towards  whom 
Richelieu  bore  inveterate  hate,  was  arrested  and 
put  upon  his  trial  upon  frivolous  charges  of  mal- 
versation during  the  construction  of  the  citadel  of 
Verdun,  by  which  he  had  derived  illicit  profit ; 
and  of  maladministration  of  the  King's  moneys 
forwarded  for  the  payment  of  the  army  under  his 
command.      The  true  crime  of  Marillac  was  his 
offer    at    the    memorable    secret    conference    at 
Lyons,  during  the  King's  illness,  to  slay  the  ob- 
noxious Cardinal  minister  with  his  own  hand. 
The  Lord-Keeper  Chateauneuf  presided  at  the 
trial  which  took  place,  against  all  precedent,  in 
the  private  mansion  of  Richelieu  at  Ruel.    On  the 
8th   of   May  sentence  of  decapitation  was  pro- 
nounced upon  Marillac ;  the  crime  of  this  old  and 
faithful  servant  of  Henri  Quatre  being  his  devoted 
attachment  to  the  widow  of  his  late  master,  and 
the    power  which  his  probity,  virtue  and  affa- 
bility enabled  him  to  exercise  over  the  army  under 
his  command.     "  A  page  ought  not  to  be  flogged 
for  the  misdeeds  for  which  I  am  arraigned  !    For 
forty  years  I  have  served  two  great  kings :    all 
that  they  can  accuse  me  of    are  trifling  inac- 
curacies in  accounts  for  lime,  straw,  hay,  wood 
and  stone  !  "     The  following  day  the  head  of 


254  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1630- 

Marillac  fell.51  So  great  was  the  horror  and 
irritation  of  Queen  Marie  when  she  heard  of  this 
murder,  that  she  is  said  to  have  made  a  solemn 
vow  that  if  ever  she  returned  to  France  and 
regained  her  lost  power,  the  head  of  Richelieu 
should  be  severed,  without  form  or  process,  on  the 
spot  upon  which  the  virtuous  and  good  marshal 
suffered.  The  ex-Lord  Keeper,  brother  of  Maril- 
lac,  survived  his  brother  only  four  months  ;  he 
died  at  Chateaudun,  crippled  from  the  dampness 
and  unhealthiness  of  his  prison,  and  over- 
whelmed with  grief  at  the  ruin  of  his  house. 

Richelieu,  meantime,  despatched  letters  and 
missives  in  every  direction,  to  express  his  dismay 
at  the  arrest  and  flight  of  Marie  de'  Medici,  to- 
wards whom  he  positively  avers  that  no  harm  or 
disgrace  was  intended,  except  a  temporary  exile 
to  her  dower  castle  of  Moulins. 

In  one  of  these  epistles  addressed  to  the  Car- 
dinal de  la  Valette,  Richelieu  thus  expresses  his 
regrets  :  "  It  is  with  the  most  incredible  and 
smarting  regret  that  I  announce  to  you  the  resolve 
which  his  Majesty  found  himself  obliged  to  take 
at  Compiegne,  to  request  the  Queen  his  mother  to 
retire  for  a  time  to  Moulins.  I  would  wish,  at  the 
price  of  my  blood  and  at  the  forfeiture  of  my  life, 
to  have  rendered  this  separation  unnecessary, 
although,  please  God,  its  duration  will  be  brief.  If 
it  had  pleased  Almighty  God  to  have  granted  my 
prayers  my  last  moment  would  have  preceded 
this  alienation,  for  which  I  can  never  be  con- 
soled, seeing  a  Queen  whom  I  have  so  long  revered 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  255 

and  served  reduced  to  this  condition.      But  the 
sway  of  evil  and  termagant  spirits  had  too  long 
dominated  over  the  court.     During  the  war  in 
Italy,  they  did  all  they  could  to  produce  a  failure 
of    that    campaign,   since   which    Monsieur   has 
fled  from  court.     The   King   on   many  occasions 
entreated  the  Queen  his  mother  to  open  her  eyes 
upon  these  woes  and  to  arrest  their  progress,  but 
her  Majesty  was  not  pleased  to  comply ;    nor 
would  she  enter  the  council  chamber,  saying  that 
she  did  not  wish  her  name  to  be  used  as  an 
authority  for  the  indispensable  measures  there 
resolved.     The  King,  finding  her  inexorable  in 
this  resolution,  wisely  decided  that  if  she  declined 
to  permit  her  influence  to  be  used  in  support  of 
his  government,  her  presence  in  Paris  was  highly 
adverse  to  the  welfare  of  his  realm — as  declaring 
herself  malcontent  and  remaining  at  court  gave 
to  many  personages  boldness  and  freedom  to  pro- 
claim themselves  so  likewise."  52     A  few  days  later, 
the  Cardinal  wrote  to  the  Commander  de  la  Porte, 
uncle  of  M.  de  St.  Simon,  to  announce  the  de- 
parture of  Marie  from  Compiegne.    In  this  letter 
he  says :   "  Believe  me,  there  is  nothing  in  the 
world  which  we  would  not  have  done  to  persuade 
the  Queen  to  renounce  her  alliance  with  Monsieur 
and  with  the  realm  of  Spain.     We  offered  to  con- 
fide to  her  the  government  of  Anjou,  and  to  con- 
firm her  Majesty's  sway  over  other  places  already 
conferred  ;    but  she  steadily  refused  all  honour- 
able   terms    and     requisite     precautions    which 
we  proposed." 53     "  The  Queen,"  said  Richelieu, 


256  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1630- 

"  treated    in    the    same     manner    persons    who 

brought  her  an  atrocious  calumny   or  a    pure 

truth.  She  kept  the  secret  of  all,  and  received  true 

friends  and  false  ones  with  the  same  cordiality. 

Every  one,  therefore,  fearlessly  palmed  upon  her 

bad  coin  mingled  with  good.     I  lost  my  hold  on 

the  Queen-mother,"  continues  he,  "  by  not  putting 

down  evil  cabals  when  they  first  cropped  out.    To 

save  one's  self,  one  must  seize  the  initiative.    It  is 

better  in  such  circumstances  to  do  much  rather 

than  little,  provided   precaution   goes   only  the 

length  of  exiling  from  court  all  personages  who, 

being  able  to  perpetrate  evil,  inspire  suspicions  by 

imprudent  or  malignant  conduct  and  censure."  64 

Having  thus  punished  his  late  opponents,  exiled 

the  Queen-mother  and  suspended  a  threatening 

scourge  over  the  head  of  his  sovereign's  wife, 

Richelieu  next  offered  admonition  to  his  royal 

master.   Imbued  with  a  thorough  persuasion  of  his 

own  administrative  capacity  and  the  weakness  of 

the  King,  Richelieu  caused  the  following  maxims 

to  be  laid  before  Louis  by  the  Capuchin  Joseph  ; 

in  which,  article  by  article,  he  prescribed  the 

manner  in  which  he  chose  to  wield  the  arbitrary 

power  he  had  usurped  : 

1. 

A  great  Prince  ought  to  have  a  council  of  state 
to  advise  with  on  the  affairs  of  his  realm. 

2. 

It  is  necessary  for  a  King  to  have  a  prime 
minister ;    and  this  prime  minister  must  have 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  257 

three  qualities,  to  wit, — to  possess  no  other 
interest  than  that  of  his  Prince,  to  be  able  and 
faithful,  and  to  be  a  member  of  Holy  Church. 

3. 

A  Prince  ought  to  love  his  prime  minister  with 
perfect  affection. 

4. 

A  Prince  ought  never  to  dismiss  or  degrade  his 
prime  minister. 

5. 

A  Prince   ought  to  confide  implicitly  in  his 
prime  minister. 

6. 

A  Prince  ought  always  to  grant  free  and  con- 
stant access  to  his  presence  to  his  prime  minister. 

7. 

A  Prince  ought  to  invest  his  prime  minister  with 
sovereign  authority  over  the  people  of  the  realm. 

8. 

A  Prince  ought  to  heap  honours  and  riches  on 
his  prime  minister. 

9. 

A  Prince  ought  to  regard  his  prime  minister  as 
his  richest  treasure. 

10. 

A  Prince  ought  to  put  no  faith  in  reports  and 
accusations  against  his  prime  minister  ;  he  ought 
not  to  take  pleasure  in  such  slander,  but  on  the 
contrary  rigorously  punish  him  by  whom  his 
minister  is  falsely  accused. 


258  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1630- 

11. 

A  Prince  ought  to  make  plenary  revelation  to 
his  prime  minister  of  all  slanders  and  accusations 
hurled  against  the  said  minister ;  even  when  the 
King  may  have  solemnly  promised  secrecy. 

12. 

A  Prince  ought  not  only  to  love  his  realm,  but 
his  prime  minister  also  ;  after  them,  his  kindred 
and  relatives. 

13. 

A  Prince  ought  to  forestall  calamity  by  wise 
provision. 

14. 

A  Prince  is  not  to  be  blamed  for  using  just 
severity  in  governing  his  realm. 

15. 

A  Prince  ought  carefully  to  prevent  his  kingdom 
from  being  governed  by  women  and  favourites. 

The  audacity  of  these  fifteen  maxims  wrung  a 
grim  smile  from  Louis  XIII.  He,  however,  care- 
fully put  the  paper  by,  in  the  presence  of  the  wily 
Capuchin  ;  and  desired  the  reverend  father  to 
assure  himself  that  he  had  perfect  faith  in  the 
fidelity,  ability  and  resource  of  M.  le  Cardinal. 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  FIVE 

1  The  Queen-mother  seems  also  to  have  acquiesced  in  the  propriety  of 
this  dismissal :   "  La  reine-mere  vint  au  conseil  ou  1'on  resolu  la  liberte 
de  M.  de  Vendome,  et  1'eloignement  de  Madame  do  Fargis." — Journal 
de  Richelieu. 

2  "  On  resolut,  aussi,  de  mander  au  Marquis  de  Mirabel  que  le  roy 
d6siroit  qu'il  vescut  en  France  comme  les  ambassadeurs  de  France  font 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  259 

en  Espagne  ;  et  qu'il  ne  vint  plus  au  Louvre  sans  audience,  et  ne  pensat 
plus  n'y  sa  femme  d'avoir  libre  entree,  laquelle  ils  avaient  usurpee 
jusques  a  present." — Ibid. 

3  Ibid. 

4  "  Mecontent  do  la  Reyne  Regnante  centre  M.  le  Cardinal."  Richelieu 
always  speaks  of  himself  in  the  third  person. — Ibid. 

6  "  La  petite  Lavaux  a  dit  au  cardinal  quo  la  colere  de  la  reine  avoit 
etc  jusqu'au  point  de  dire  :  Je  ne  luy  pardonnerai  jamais — non  janiais ! ' ' 
—Ibid. 

6  Journal  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu  es  Orages  de  la  Cour,  &c.  &c. 

7  Sister  of  the  brothers  De  Luynes.    The  Duchess,  when  Madame  de 
Vernet,  had  been  dismissed  for  her  share   in   the  disorders  of  tha 
court  when  at  Amiens.    She  had  subsequently  married  the  Duke  de 
Bouillon. 

8  "  La  Reine  a  encore  tenu  ce  meme  langage  a  M.  de  Chaulnes  (Honore 
de  Luynes)  le  2  Janvier,  1631,  a  ce  qu'il  dit  a  M.  le  Cardinal." 

9  One  of  the  four  secretaries  of  state,  and  often  sent  by  the  King  to 
expostulate  with  Queen  Anne. 

10  Walter  Montague,  then  a  monk  of  St.  Martin  de  Pontoise,  and 
greatly  in  the  confidence  of  the  Queens. 

11  Journal  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu. 

12  Probably  to  Madame  de  Chevreuse. 

13  "  Ces  lettres  parlaient  de  la  mort  du  Roi  advenant,  de  faire  epouser 
la  reine  a  Monsieur.   Elle  ecrit  au  Comte  de  Cramail  qu'elle  envoyait 
des  memoires  a  la  reine  contre  le  Cardinal.  Les  lettres  tesmoignent 
un  veritable  amour  entre  elle  et  le  Comte  de   Cramail." — Journal  de 
Richelieu. 

14  "  Le  Marquis  de  Mirabel  dit  a  Bonnevil,  quoique  pique  de  la  defense 
d'entrer  au  Louvre,  qu'il  eut  voulu  qu'on  cut  oste  Madame  de  Fargis  il 
y  a  longtemps." — Ibid. 

15  "  Elle  repondit,  qu'elle  serait  bien  mechante  de  dire  quelque  choie 
contre  lui  ;  n'en  ayant  aucun  sujet." — Ibid. 

16  "  II  arriva,  comme  la  reyne  se  couche  a  minuit,  une  grosse  et  grande 
bougie  qui  dure  jusqu'a  neuf  ou  dix  heures  du  matin,  s'eteignit  sur  les 
quatre  heures  du  matin.    La  reyne  envoya  querir  le  dit  Censure  pour 
lui  demander  si  cela  ne  signifioit  qu'elle  dut  perdre  ?  "   "  On  dit  que  la 
reine  a  di verses  prophecies,  qui  lui  disent  que  dans  la  fin  de  1631  elle 
sera  aussi  heureuse  et  grande  que  jamais  !  " — Ibid. 

17  "  Louis  declara  que  le  Petit  Luxembourg  demeureroit  a  Richelieu, 
II  fallut  encore  que  la  Reine  Marie  devorat  encore  le  chagrin  d'apprendre 
qu'on  faisoit  des  changements  dans  son  palais  au  gr6  du  Cardinal  et  de 
sa  niece,  qu'on  y  batissoit  des  bains,  et  qu'on  y  touchoit  meme  a  la 
maitresse  muraille  du  Grand  Palais." — Galerie  des  Personnages  Illustres 
de  la  Cour  de  France. 

18  Sir  Herbert  Croft,  who,  espousing  the  faith  of  Rome,  became  a  lay- 
brother  of  the  Benedictines  of  Douay,  1607.    Croft  died  April  1632 


260  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1680- 

leaving  four  sons  and  three  daughters,  born  in  wedlock  previous  to  his 
profession.  Croft  and  Montague  were  heart  and  soul  devoted  to  the 
interests  of  Anne  of  Austria. 

19  Journal  de  Richelieu — Retraite  de  Monsieur. 

20  Journal  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu.   The  duke  had  an  interview  with 
the  Princess  de  Conty,  which  lasted  three  hours.    The  same  evening 
these  illustrious  ladies,  Mesdames  de  Conty,  de  Mouay,  and  the  Duchess 
d'Ornano,  conversing  together,  betrayed  their  suspicion  of  the  flight  of 
Monsieur,  which  Richelieu  states  that  they  could  only  have  learned 
from  Queen  Anne.     "  Je  gage  que  Monsieur  n'aura  pas  le  coeur  de 
publier  qu'il  est  sorty  a  cause  du  traitement  qu'on  fait  a  la  Reyne  sa 
mere,"  said  Madame  d'Ornano.  "  Si  fera,  que  je  croy,"  replied  Madame 
de  Conty.    "  II  le  fera,"  continued  the  princess  ;   "  j'en  suis  asseuree  ; 
et  je  vous  dis  que  la  Reyne  savoit  bien  sa  sortie."    This  conversation 
Richelieu  remembered. 

21  "  Que  peu  s'en  etoit  fallu  qu'elle  ne  fust  evanouie  quand  Monsieur 
luy  avoit  mande  qu'il  s'en  alloit  de  la  cour." 

22  Jean  Souffran,  Jesuit,  confessor  to  Marie  de'  Medici  and  to  Louis  XIII. 
He  followed  the  queen  in  her  exile,  and  died  at  Flushing  in  1641. 

23  Mem.   Recondite. — Mem.   du   Cardinal   de   Richelieu. — Notice  des 
Editeurs.     MSS.,  Bibl.  Imp.,  Lettres  de  Marie  de'  Medici. — F.  Colbert. 

24  Galerie  des  Personnages  Illustres  de  la  Cour  de  France,  t.  4. 

25  "  Le  roy  parlant  du  conseil  qu'il  prit  pour  ce  regard  dit  a  tout  le 
monde,  que  la  necessite  de  ses  affaires  ne  lui  pouvoit  permettre  d'en 
prendre  d'autre." 

26  Mem.  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu. — Leti,  Teatro  Gallico. — "  La  Reine- 
mere,"  writes  Bassompierre,   "  fut  encore  sollicitee  par  le  Roy  de 
s'accommoder  avec  le  Cardinal.  Mais  comme  elle   est  tres  entiere  et 
opiniatre,  et  que  la  plaie  etait  encore  recente,  elle  n'y  put  etre  portee." 

27  Mem.  de  Motteville,  t.  1. 

28  Mem.  de  Motteville. — Le  Vassor,  Hist,  de  Louis  XIII. — Journal  de 
Richelieu. 

29  "  La  Reine  prit  seulement  une  robe  de  chambre,  et  toute  en  chemise 
passa  chez  la  Reine  sa  belle-mere,  qu'elle  trouva  dans  son  lit  assise  sur 
son  seant.    Elle  tenoit  les  genoux  embrasses,  ne  sachant  que  deviner  de 
ce  mystere." — Motteville,  t.  1. 

30  Motteville,  t.  1  ;  MS.  Beth.  B.  Imp.,  Fontanieu. 

31  Motteville,  t.  1. — Victor  Cousin,  Vie  de  Madame  de  Hautefort. 

32  Madame  de  Senece  was  first  dame  du  palais  to  Queen  Anne. 

33  Cousin,  Vie  de  Madame  de  Hautefort,  p.  10. 

34  Bassompierre  states,  "  Que  les  larmes  de  la  Reine-mere  ne  couloient 
pas,  mais  se  dardoient  hors  de  ses  yeux." 

35  MS.  Bibl.  Imp.  Fontanieu,  262,  p.  126.     Madame  de  Guercheville 
remained  as  lady-in-waiting  on  the  Queen.  She  had  also  her  favourites, 
L^aterina  Selvaggio,  and  M.  Fabroni  and  his  wife. 

»"  MS.  Bibl.  Imp.  Fontanieu,  262,  p.  131.   MS.  Dupuy,  Bibl.  Imp.,  49. 


1631]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  261 

The  King  sent  the  secretary  of  state,  Ville-aux-Clercs,  to  inform  his 
mother,  "  Qu'elle  avait  liberte  de  sortir,  et  de  se  promener  lorsque  le 
temps  le  voudroit  permettre."  Also,  that  M.  Vaultier,  her  physician, 
should  return  to  her  when  she  had  obeyed  the  command  of  the  King  to 
retire  to  Moulins. — Aubery,  Mem.  pour  servir  a  1'Histoire  du  Card,  de 
Richelieu.  Lettre  de  Ville-aux-Clercs. 

37  Journal  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu.     "  L'ambassadeur  tesmoigna  au 
Roi,  et  ensuite  a  tant  d'autre  persomies,  le  deplaisir  qu'il  avait  de  ce 
refus,  et  qu'il  etait  sur  le  point  d'en  faire  une  plainte  publique  au 
Nonce,  et  aux  autres  ambassadeurs,  mais  il  s'etait  retenu  par  les 
persuasions  de  son  secretaire." 

38  MS.  Bibl.  Imp.  Fontanieu,  262,  p.  131. 

39  Marie  de'  Medici  a  Louis  XIII.  ;  Bibl.  Imp.,  MS.  Font.,  262,  p.  135. 

40  «  "phe  Queen  pertinaciously  demanded  that  her  physician,  Vaultier, 
should  return  to  her.    The  King  promised  that  he  should  meet  her  at 
Moulins.   Meantime,  however,  Marie  was  informed  of  his  committal  to 
the  Bastille.  The  King  consented  that  two  of  the  Queen's  women  should 
return  to  the  Luxembourg,  to  pack  up  her  wardrobe  and  rich  effects. 
Also  that   Calignon,    her   secretary,   might   visit,    and   arrange   her 
papers." 

41  The  King  seems  animated  by  the  most  perfect  good  faith  throughout 
his  correspondence  during  Marie's  detention  at  Compiegne.  His  Majesty 
appeared  willing  to  make  any  concession,  short  of  permitting  the  Queen- 
mother  to  return  to  Paris.    Finding  that  Marie's  objections  to  Moulin 
were  not  to  be  overcome,  he  offered  her  the  choice  of  the  castle  of  Angers 
or  of  any  other  chateau  in  that  government.    He  proposed  that  she 
should  occupy  the  castle  of  Blois  ;  he  offered  to  dismiss  her  guards  and 
to  provide  that  everywhere  the  Queen  should  be  treated  as  "  souveraine 
dame,  mere,  et  reine."  Louis  wished  his  mother  to  quit  Compiegne,  to 
contradict  the  reports  that  he  had  arrested  and  confined  her  to  that 
palace.  Marie,  with  her  usual  obstinacy,  protested  that  nothing  should 
induce  her  to  leave  Compiegne,  except  to  rejoin  his  Majesty  in  Paris. 
"  Elle  a  envoye  qu6rir  des  soyes  pour  travailler  a  des  ouvrages,  a  present 
que  les  jours  sont  grands,"  wrote  d'Estrees  to  the  secretary,  Ville-aux- 
Clercs. 

42  Information  faite  par  M.  de  Nesmond,  Maitre  des  Requetes,  sur  la 
sortie  de  la  Reine-mere  de  Compiegne. — Aubery,  Mem.  pour  servir  a 
1'Hist.  du  Card,  de  Richelieu. 

43  Ibid.    The  bishop  was  tried  for  high  treason  ;  suspended  from  his 
episcopal  functions  ;  and  was  restored  only  after  the  decease  of  the 
Cardinal. — Urquefort,  L'Ambassadeur  et  ses  Fonctions,  livre  1,  p.  112. 

44  Rene  Dubec,  premier  Marquis  de  Vardes.     The  marquis  married 
Helene  d'O.   His  son,  Ren6  II.  du  nom,  espoused  Jacqueline  de  Benil, 
Countess  de  Moret ;  and  their  eldest  son,  the  third  Marquis  de  Vardes, 
Count  de  Moret,  was  the  celebrated  cavalier  of  Louis  XIV.,  captain  of 
the  Swiss  and  body  guards. 


262  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA 

45  Lettre  de  Louis  XIII.  a  Marie  de'  Medici.— Bibl.  Imp.  MS.  Font.  204. 

46  Journal  do  Richelieu. 

47  Le  Pere  Chanteloube  was  banished,  or  rather  fled,  to  Brussels,  to 
avoid  arrest  for  an  alleged  connivance  in  a  plot  to  carry  off  Madame  de 
Combalet.    "  Afin  de  mettre  le  cardinal  a  la  raison,  quand  elle  auroit 
ce  qu'il  aimoit  tant.  Mademoiselle  de  Rambouillet  etait  avec  elle  :  elle 
alloit  voir  Madame  de  Rambouillet."  The  plot  was  real — one  of  Marie 
de'  Medici's  insane  expedients  to  annoy  the  Cardinal. 

48  M.  de  St.  Etienne  married  Marie  de  Tremblay,  sister  of  Father 
Joseph.    The  Abbess  of  the  Val  de  Grace  was  a  sister  of  M.  de  St. 
Etienne,  and  therefore  honoured  with  marks  of  gracious  notice  by  the 
famous  Capuchin. 

49  Journal  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu. — Amsterdam,  1664. 

50  Ibid. 

61  Vie  du  Marechal  de  Marillac.  Bayle  Diet.  Tallemant  des  Reaux. 
Bassompierre.  Mem.  du  Sieur  de  Pontis  ;  the  which  contain  a  full 
detail  of  the  trial  and  execution  of  the  unfortunate  marshal,  as  de 
Pontis  was  the  officer  charged  with  the  guard  of  Marillac  after  his  arrest. 

52  Aubery,  Mem.  pour  1'Hist.  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu,  t.  5. 

53  Ibid. 

51  Memoire  donne  au  Roy  par  le  Cardinal  de  Richelieu  apres  que  la 
Reyne-mere  1'eut  eloigne  de  sa  maison,  touchant  les  cabales  dans  la 
cour.   Aubery,  t.  5,  p.  266.    "  n  ne  faut  pas  croire,  Sire,  qu'on  puisse 
avoir  des  preuves  mathematiques  des  conspirations  et  des  cabales  ;  elles 
ne  se  connoissent  ainsi  que  par  1'evenement,  lorsqu'elles  ne  sont  plus 
capables  de  remedes,"  writes  the  politic  minister. 


CHAPTER  VI 
1631-1637 

ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA,  MADEMOISELLE  DE  LA  FAYETTE, 
AND   THE   DUCHESS   DE    CHEVREUSE 

AFTER  the  return  of  Anne  of  Austria  from  Com- 
piegne,  her  restless  spirit  subsided.  Everywhere 
the  policy  and  the  will  of  Richelieu  were  domi- 
nant :  alliance  with  him  conferred  power,  and 
opposition  to  his  fiats,  disgrace  and  ignominy. 
The  palace  swarmed  with  his  spies,  and  even  in 
the  retirement  of  her  bedchamber,  Anne  knew 
that  the  Cardinal's  wary  eye  tracked  her  actions 
and  analysed  her  motives.  But  one  fact  foiled 
the  will  of  the  Cardinal — and  that  was  her  own 
indomitable  hate  and  enmity.  Had  the  Queen 
joined  her  interests  to  those  of  Richelieu — had 
she  smiled  on  the  minister  and  declared  her- 
self favourable  to  his  policy  and  to  his  power — 
the  aspect  of  Anne's  daily  life  would  probably 
have  been  transformed  from  a  lot  of  obscurity  and 
persecution  to  the  most  brilliant  and  powerful 
position  ever  occupied  by  a  queen-consort  of 
France.  The  proposition  had  been  more  than 
once  made  to  her  by  the  Cardinal  through  Mes- 
dames  de  Chevreuse  and  de  Fargis.1  Often,  Riche- 
lieu was  heard  to  lament  the  division  subsisting 
between  himself  and  Queen  Anne,  and  to  laud 
rapturously  her  beauty,  wit  and  sagacity  ;  while 

263 


264  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1631- 

he  pathetically  deplored  that  these  rare  gifts 
should  be  employed  in  plots  against  the  govern- 
ment, in  upholding  rebel  vassals  of  the  crown, 
and  above  all,  in  supporting  M.  d'Orleans  in  his 
criminal  attempts  to  inflict  upon  France  the  curse 
of  civil  war  and  foreign  invasion.  The  hidden 
motives  of  this  disloyalty  and  indifference  to  the 
interests  and  glory  of  her  adopted  country,  the 
Cardinal  discerned  in  the  uncertainty  of  the  King's 
life,  and  in  the  hope  which  ever  animated  the 
childless  Queen  that  on  the  death  of  Louis  XIII. 
she  might  a  second  time  ascend  the  throne  as 
the  consort  of  the  brother  and  successor  of  her 
husband.  Actuated  by  this  wicked  foresight, 
Anne,  Richelieu  averred  and  with  much  apparent 
truth,  sacrificed  her  conjugal  and  queenly  duty, 
and  made  no  effort  to  conciliate  her  husband  or 
to  efface  from  his  suspicious  mind  the  impression 
cast  thereon  by  the  revelations  consequent  on  the 
trial  of  Chalais.  No  relations  could  be  colder  than 
those  subsisting  between  Louis  and  his  consort 
during  the  winter  and  the  spring  of  the  years 
1631-2.  The  King  avoided  his  wife  in  private  ; 
while  in  public,  ceremonious  etiquette  divided 
them.  Anne  never  set  foot  within  the  King's 
apartments ;  all  her  communications  with  his 
Majesty  passed  through  the  hands  of  Richelieu, 
and  were  generally  imparted  to  the  minister  by 
the  Spanish  ambassador  or  by  Madame  de 
Sendee.  When  Louis  visited  his  palaces  of  Com- 
piegne,  Fontainebleau,  Versailles  or  Vincennes, 
notice  was  given  to  her  Majesty,  who  made  pre- 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  265 

paration  to  follow  the  King,  or  accepting  the 
alternative  generally  offered,  she  retired  to  St. 
Germain  and  lived  there  in  strict  privacy.  Anne 
now  received  a  liberal  allowance  for  her  privy 
purse  :  at  this  period  the  sum  amounted  to  ten 
thousand  pounds  yearly,  which  she  disposed  of  at 
will,  and  upon  which  no  demand  was  made  for 
expenses  connected  with  her  household. 

With  the  people  of  Paris  Anne  was  popular ; 
there  was  a  fascination  in  her  smile  and  manner 
which  made  the  Parisians  greet  her  with  en* 
thusiasm  ;  besides,  they  half  resented  her  shabby 
equipages,  and  the  absence  of  pompous  appareil, 
and  of  the  attendants,  which  had  formed  the 
escort  of  the  queens  her  predecessors.  The  Queen 
was  never  attended  by  more  than  three  ladies ; 
and  the  edict,  given  after  the  trial  of  Chalais, 
suspended  the  functions  of  the  noblemen  of  her 
household  excepting  when  the  royal  pair  made  a 
joint  progress.  The  people,  therefore,  cheered 
their  young  Queen  on  her  dreary  progresses  to  the 
convents  of  Val  de  Grace  and  the  Carmelites  of 
the  Rue  St.  Jacques,  despite  her  well-known 
mutinous  defiance  of  the  will  of  her  liege  lord 
Louis  XIII.  and  the  law  of  his  minister.  The 
Queen  was,  nevertheless,  compelled  to  dissimu- 
late her  discontent ;  utter  isolation  might  lead  to 
her  banishment  from  the  capital,  could  Louis  be 
persuaded  that  her  presence  had  little  influence 
on  the  assembling  at  the  Louvre  of  the  few  great 
personages  in  the  good  graces  of  the  Cardinal, 
who  composed  the  court.  She  had,  therefore, 


266  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1631- 

summoned  Mirabel  to  the  Val  de  Grace — who 
obeyed  her  behests  at  the  risk  of  being  arrested, 
conducted  to  the  frontier  and  dismissed  the  realm 
— to  request  him  to  wait  upon  Richelieu  and  hint, 
in  the  name  of  his  Catholic  Majesty,  that  "the 
latter  regretted  his  Eminence  did  not  frequent  the 
lever  or  the  saloon  of  Queen  Anne  his  sister,  as 
such  intimacy  could  not  fail  to  be  productive  of 
happy  results  and  might  give  M.  le  Cardinal 
opportunity  for  friendly  counsel."2  Richelieu 
thanked  the  ambassador  for  his  obliging  dis- 
course, but  gave  no  intimation  as  to  whether  he 
purposed  to  act  in  accord  thereto.  Probably  the 
Cardinal  preferred  to  trust  to  the  good  offices  of 
Madame  de  Chevreuse  to  bring  about  a  better 
understanding  between  the  Queen  and  himself, 
rather  than  to  venture  alone  into  her  Majesty's 
presence.  The  approaching  return  of  Marie  de 
Rohan  to  court  excited  in  the  bosom  of  the  power- 
ful minister  hopes  which  were  never  realised. 
He  professed  profound  admiration  for  the  clever 
and  witty  Duchess  ;  he  wished  for  her  friendly 
alliance,  and  if  the  scandalous  chronicles  of  this 
reign  are  to  be  believed,  he  desired  of  her  some- 
thing more  in  addition.  Marie,  wearied  of  her 
enforced  sojourn  at  Dampierre,  and  anxious  to 
share  the  power  of  her  friend  Chateauneuf,  be- 
fooled the  Cardinal  by  professions  of  admiration, 
and  by  promises  of  converting  Anne  of  Austria 
from  his  foe  to  a  devoted  ally.'  The  adoration 
which  King  Louis  began  to  lavish  on  Mademoi- 
selle de  Hautefort,  any  comment  upon  which  his 


1687]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  267 

Majesty  fiercely  resented,  began  to  inflict  un- 
easiness on  the  minister.  Anne  had  already 
thrown  the  glamour  of  her  fascinations  over  her 
young  dame  (Valours,  and  showed  no  jealousy  of 
her  influence  with  the  King ;  while  Marie  de 
Hautefort  bravely  informed  Richelieu,  "  that  she 
loved  and  revered  her  royal  mistress,  and  could 
not  blame  her  Majesty  if,  when  surrounded  by 
neglect  and  persecutions,  she  had  recourse  to  the 
sympathy  and  aid  of  her  brother  King  Philip." 
One  of  the  most  remarkable  faculties  possessed  by 
the  Queen  was  the  power  of  commanding  the 
affectionate  attachment  of  her  principal  ladies; 
those  who  most  disapproved  of  her  intrigues  when 
they  entered  her  service,  never  afterwards  be- 
trayed her  to  the  minister.  The  gentle  manners 
of  the  Queen,  her  apparent  helplessness,  her  affec- 
tionate condescension,  the  interest  she  showed 
in  the  personal  affairs  of  her  friends  and  the 
tearful  softness  of  her  blue  eyes,  were  powerful 
weapons  against  the  ascendency  of  the  Cardinal 
within  the  precincts  of  the  palace. 

Meantime,  the  sombre  and  imperious  admira- 
tion of  Louis  XIII.  filled  the  mind  of  Marie  de 
Hautefort  with  foreboding.  Amongst  the  beauti- 
ful women  of  the  era  of  Louis  XIII.,  Marie  de 
Hautefort  stands  prominent,  as  one  of  the  most 
noble,  heroic,  and  virtuous.  Firm  in  her  prin- 
ciples and  devoted  in  her  friendship  and  duty  to 
the  Queen  her  mistress,  Marie  seems  to  have  con- 
fided to  Anne  her  misgivings.  Endowed  with  a 
heart  worthy  of  a  queen  or  of  a  heroine,  Marie  at 


268  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1631- 

first  beheld  with  complacency  the  homage  of  her 
King,  and  accepted  with  elation  the  assiduities 
of  Richelieu.  For  her  sake  and  to  obtain  the 
coveted  interview,  Louis  daily  repaired  twice  and 
thrice  to  the  apartments  of  the  Queen,  where 
Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort  was  often  summoned 
from  a  conference  with  her  Majesty  to  become  the 
recipient  of  the  sighs  and  plaints  of  the  King. 
Anne  comforted  and  reassured  her  friend ;  the 
King  professed  sentiments  purely  Platonic  ;  he 
wanted,  he  said,  the  solace  of  friendship  and  con- 
fidential intercourse ;  he  liked  to  cavil  at  his 
minister  ;  above  all  he  desired  faithful,  exclusive 
attachment.  Marie,  inspired  with  genuine  com- 
passion for  the  dreariness  of  a  life  of  emotions 
so  repressed,  accepted,  with  the  secret  sanction 
of  the  Queen,  the  office  of  comforter.  Anne  gloried 
in  the  hope  that  in  this  liaison  she  descried  the 
future  germ  of  her  enemy's  downfall.  The  King's 
bashful  shyness  in  his  intercourse  with  Marie 
allayed  the  most  prudish  suspicion.  It  is  related 
that  one  day  Louis  abruptly  entered  the  Queen's 
closet,  when  Anne  was  sitting  tete-a-tete  with  her 
dame  (Vatours,  who  with  heightened  colour  was 
reading  to  her  Majesty  a  note,  which  on  the 
entrance  of  the  King  she  hastily  folded.  A  dark 
shadow  gloomed  over  the  King's  brow,  and  he 
peremptorily  demanded  to  see  the  letter  so  hastily 
hidden.  Treason  to  his  realm  might  afford  a 
daily  pastime  to  Anne  of  Austria,  while  treason 
against  his  attachment  might  give  delight  to 
Marie  de  Hautefort — for  Louis  had  been  informed 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  269 

by  his  minister  of  the  admiration  professed  by  the 
Due  de  Liancour  and  the  young  Prince  de  Mar- 
sillac  3  for  the  lovely  young  dame  d'atours.  By 
some  historians,  the  letter  is  said  to  have  been 
written  by  Richelieu,  and  that  it  contained  offers 
of  a  reciprocal  friendly  alliance  ;  others  state 
that  the  epistle  congratulated  Mademoiselle  de 
Hautefort  on  her  favour,  and  ended  by  a  demand 
for  protection  from  some  cringing  courtier.  True 
to  herself,  however,  Marie  refused  to  gratify  the 
curiosity  of  the  King,  and  to  end  the  debate  she 
hid  the  note  in  her  bosom.4  Anne,  meantime, 
looked  on  with  mocking  derision,  especially  when 
she  beheld  the  confusion  of  the  King  and  his 
hesitation  to  draw  the  note  from  its  hiding-place. 
Her  Majesty,  however,  presently  seized  the  hands 
of  Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort  and  laughingly 
exhorted  the  King  "  to  take  the  note  whilst  she 
thus  held  its  owner  captive."  Louis  blushed, 
stammered,  advanced  and  retreated ;  and  at 
length,  taking  up  from  the  hearth  a  small  pair  of 
silver  tongs,  he  tried  to  possess  himself  of  the 
note  which  was  visible  beneath  the  transparent 
lace  which  covered  Marie's  bosom.  The  peals  of 
laughter  which  this  extraordinary  device  drew 
from  the  Queen,  and  the  blushing  confusion  and 
deprecatory  looks  of  Marie,  fairly  drove  Louis 
from  the  apartment.6  The  ladies  then  hastened 
to  destroy  the  letter,  just  in  time  to  forestal  a 
formal  summons  for  its  surrender  by  the  under- 
secretary of  state,  Machault.  "  Mademoiselle  de 
Hautefort  is  of  tall  stature  and  fine  figure,  her 


270  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1631- 

eyes  are  blue,  large,  open  and  full  of  vivacity ; 
her  nose  is  aquiline,  her  mouth  small  and  rosy, 
while  her  smile  displays  teeth,  white  and  even  as 
pearls.  Two  little  dimples  gave  a  grace  to  the 
lovely  mouth  and  cheeks.  The  colour  of  her  hair 
is  blond  cendre,  of  which  she  has  an  abundance, 
falling  in  ringlets  around  a  beautiful  and  stately 
throat.  In  her  aspect  there  is  altogether  so  much 
dignity,  gentleness,  and  grace,  that  it  excites 
sentiments  of  tenderness,  awe,  and  esteem."  Such 
is  the  description  given  of  the  charms  of  the  young 
dame  tfatours  by  a  contemporary.6  The  heavy 
assiduities  of  Louis  were  often  felt  as  insupport- 
able restraints  by  one  so  gifted  and  charming, 
who  beheld  all  the  cavaliers  of  the  court  van- 
quished by  her  fascinations,  but  nevertheless 
withheld  from  offering  personal  homage,  daunted 
by  their  dread  of  exciting  the  resentment  of  the 
sovereign.  Madame  de  la  Flotte,  however,  did 
not  fail  to  remind  her  grand-daughter  that  the 
homage  of  Louis  XIII.  had  enabled  her  adorers  to 
discern  many  a  captivating  grace  hitherto  undis- 
covered, when  Marie  was  the  humble  fille  d'honneur 
of  the  exiled  Queen-mother.  When  the  Louvre  rang 
with  the  praises  of  Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort 7 
and  the  courtiers  celebrated  the  charms  of — 

Hautefort  la  merveille ! 

Reveille 

Tous  les  sens  de  Louis, 
Quand  sa  bouche  vermeille 
Lui  fait  voir  un  souris ! 

the  Cardinal  deemed  it  time  to  provide  an  anti- 
dote,  which  he  summoned  in  the  form  of  the 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  271 

Duchess  de  Chevreuse,  and  in  the  promotion  to 
a  more  distinguished  position  in  the  royal  house- 
hold of  another  fair  young  maid  of  honour,  Louise 
Angelique  Motier  de  la  Fayette.     Richelieu  felt 
that  if  the  Duchess  was  on  his  side,  he  had  nothing 
to  fear  from  the  probable  combination  of  the 
Queen    and    La    Hautefort.     He    relied    on    the 
sagacity  of  Marie  de  Rohan  8  to  resume  her  old 
ascendency  over  the  heart  of  Anne   of  Austria, 
and  to  drive  into  obscurity  the  presumptive  girl 
who  had  dared  to  aspire  to  royal  favour  and  to 
the  confidence  of  the  Queen.     After  five  years  of 
exile  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  therefore,  re-appeared 
permanently,  as  she  hoped,  on  the  scene  of  her 
ancient  triumphs,   much  to  the   dismay  of  her 
husband,  who  during  her  enforced  residence  at 
Dampierre,  had  been  revelling  in  luxurious  ease, 
troubling  himself  seldom  with  the  wishes  or  the 
fate  of  his  consort.   Madame  de  Chevreuse,  as  the 
widow  and  sole  heiress  of  the  late  Constable  de 
Luynes,  had  brought  her  second  husband  immense 
wealth  in  jewels,  lands  and  rich  effects.  The  Due 
de  Chevreuse  was  recklessly  extravagant :   being 
in  want  of  a  coach,  he  was  once  known  to  com- 
mand fifteen  to  be  built  that  he  might  select  the 
most  comfortable.  His  donations  to  dissolute  com- 
panions were  immense.     The  Duke,  nevertheless, 
knew  how  to  uphold  his  dignity  as  became  a  scion 
of  Lorraine-Guise  and  greatly  disapproved  of  his 
wife's  proceedings.     The  return  of  the  Duchess, 
therefore,  was  an  event  which  he  deprecated,  the 
more  especially,  as,  under  the  cloak  of  her  new 


272  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1631- 

favour  with  Richelieu  and  the  Lord-Keeper 
Chateauneuf,  Madame  de  Chevreuse  commenced 
a  suit  against  her  husband  for  profligate  expendi- 
ture during  her  absence,  and  demanded  a  separa- 
tion de  corps  et  de  biens  which  she  easily  obtained. 
Monsieur  de  Chevreuse,  therefore,  retired  from  the 
Hotel  Luynes,  while  the  Duchess  complacently 
established  herself  alone  in  that  splendid  mansion 
and  prepared  for  the  career  before  her.  Anne 
received  her  old  friend  with  open  arms ;  and 
this  cordiality  ought  to  have  aroused  Richelieu 
to  examine  the  sincerity  of  the  professions  of  the 
Duchess.  Madame  de  Chevreuse  became  a  daily 
visitor  at  the  Louvre,  though  Louis  refused  to 
reinstate  her  in  her  old  apartments  within  the 
palace  and  evidently  regarded  her  presence  as  an 
unwelcome  intrusion.  The  court,  nevertheless, 
during  the  next  few  months,  was  joyous  and 
gallant.  Richelieu  and  his  master  required  the 
splendour  and  excitement  of  a  few  brilliant  festi- 
vals to  neutralize,  in  degree,  the  gloom  everywhere 
prevalent,  and  to  divert  public  attention  from 
politics  and  from  the  discontent  manifested  in  the 
provinces  at  the  exile  of  the  Queen-mother  and 
of  the  heir -presumptive.  "The  court  was  very 
agreeable  at  this  period,"  recounts  Mademoiselle  :9 
"  the  attachment  of  the  King  to  Madame  de 
Hautefort  contributed  greatly  to  our  pleasure,  as 
his  Majesty  tried  to  find  her  daily  diversion. 
Hunting  was  the  greatest  of  the  King's  recrea- 
tions ;  and  we  often  accompanied  his  Majesty. 
Mesdames  de  Hautefort  and  St.  Louis,  d'Escars 


1687]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  273 

and  de  Beaumont  attended  me.  We  were  attired 
in  our  respective  colours,  and  rode  palfreys  richly 
accoutred.  To  shade  our  complexion  from  the 
sun,  we  all  wore  hats  ornamented  with  a  great 
quantity  of  drooping  plumes.  The  hunt  always 
was  made  to  take  the  direction  of  some  great 
house,  where  we  found  a  sumptuous  collation 
prepared.  When  we  returned  the  King  usually 
entered  my  coach,  sitting  between  me  and  Ma- 
dame de  Hautefort.  When  his  Majesty  was  in 
good  humour,  he  conversed  very  agreeably.  At 
this  period  he  permitted  us  to  speak  of  the  Car- 
dinal de  Richelieu  ;  and  as  a  sign  that  he  was  not 
displeased  at  our  comments,  he  joined  in  our  con- 
versation. As  soon  as  we  returned  to  the  Louvre 
we  repaired  to  the  saloon  of  the  Queen,  where  I 
took  pleasure  in  waiting  upon  her  Majesty  whilst 
she  supped,  her  maidens  handing  the  dishes. 
Three  times  a  week  we  had  the  diversion  of  music, 
and  the  King's  musicians  attended.  The  airs 
played  and  sung  were  generally  composed  by  the 
King :  he  also  wrote  the  words  of  the  songs, 
which  had  always  Madame  de  Hautefort  for  their 
theme.  The  humour  of  the  King  at  this  period 
was  so  gallant,  that  at  the  country  collations 
which  he  gave  us,  he  sometimes  declined  to  take 
his  place  at  table  but  waited  upon  the  ladies, 
though  we  were  aware  that  this  civility  had  but 
one  object.  He  took  his  repast  after  we  had 
finished,  but  pretended  not  to  pay  more  attention 
to  Madame  de  Hautefort  than  to  any  one  of  us,  so 
anxious  was  his  Majesty  to  conceal  his  gallant 


274  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1631- 

devoirs.  Nevertheless,  if  any  dispute  happened 
between  them,  all  our  diversions  were  immediately 
suspended  ;  and  if  the  King  came  during  this 
interval  into  the  Queen's  saloon,  he  spoke  to  no 
one,  neither  did  any  person  dare  to  address  his 
Majesty.  He  retired  into  a  corner  and  there  sat, 
yawned  and  slept.  The  King's  melancholy  aspect 
chilled  everybody,  and  during  this  interval 
between  the  quarrel  and  reconciliation,  he  con- 
soled himself  by  putting  down  on  paper  all  that 
he  had  said  to  Madame  de  Hautefort  with  her 
replies,  and  so  true  is  this  fact,  that  after  his 
Majesty's  death  copious  minutes  were  found 
amongst  his  private  papers  detailing  at  length  all 
the  quarrels  he  had  had  with  his  mistresses,  to 
the  eternal  praise  of  whom,  be  it  avowed,  as  also 
to  his  Majesty's  honour,  he  never  loved  any  but 
the  most  virtuous  and  discreet  of  women."  Louis 
had  the  greatest  horror  of  profligate  liaisons  :  and 
though  alienated  from  the  Queen,  he  was  rigidly 
faithful  to  her.  "  Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort  told 
me,"  writes  Madame  de  Motteville,  "  that  the  de- 
corum of  the  King  was  such  that  he  seldom  talked 
to  her  on  any  subjects  but  about  his  dogs,  his 
birds  and  hunting.  I  have  seen  her,  with  all  her 
wisdom  and  virtue,  relate  with  derision  the  fright 
the  King  was  in  when  with  her  alone,  and  that 
at  such  periods  he  scarcely  dared  approach  near 
enough  to  discourse  with  her."  On  occasions, 
however,  when  the  King  and  Mademoiselle  de 
Hautefort  were  alone,  Marie  spoke  earnestly 
respecting  the  Queen  and  besought  the  King  to 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  275 

become  reconciled  to  her,  and  the  subject  of  their 
frequent  disputes,  to  which  Mademoiselle  alludes, 
was  the  zeal  which  Marie  displayed  for  the  cause 
of  her  royal  mistress.  Louis  confided  his  sus- 
picions and  stated  his  conviction  that  Anne  was 
the  accomplice  of  Chalais,  and  that  he  owed  his 
life  and  crown  to  the  vigilance  of  Richelieu.  "  The 
Queen  hates  me — she  intrigues  against  my  realm 
—she  is  Spanish  at  heart — she  is  perpetually 
plotting  against  my  happiness."  This  conviction 
nothing  could  ever  shake.  "  Madame,"  continued 
Louis,  "  mark  my  words — you  love  and  support 
an  ungrateful  woman.  Wait,  and  see  how  one 
day  she  will  repay  your  services  !  "  Marie  de 
Hautefort,  like  many  others,  believed  fervently  in 
the  Queen  with  her  sweet  smiles  and  gentle 
seductions.  Anne  was  mistress  of  the  arts  of  per- 
suasion, and  the  disgraces  which  followed  her  per- 
sistent petty  treasons  seemed  the  more  to  endear 
her  to  her  adherents.  Perhaps  her  power  lay 
in  the  unpopularity  of  the  King.  The  penalties, 
moreover,  with  which  her  deviations  were  visited, 
lay  open  to  the  comment  and  pity  of  the  court, 
while  the  cause  of  this  severity  was  often  con- 
cealed by  the  express  command  of  Louis,  who 
shrank  from  the  publication  of  his  domestic 
miseries.  Anne  persuaded  her  friends  that  her 
clandestine  correspondences  with  Spain  were  inno- 
cent, and  that  her  stolen  conferences  with  the 
Spanish  ambassador  and  with  Gerbier,  Montagu 
and  Croft,  Catholic  agents  of  Queen  Henrietta  of 
England,  were  legitimate.  She  was  persecuted  : 


276  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1681- 

her  Majesty,  therefore,  appealed  to  the  sympathy 
of  her  brother  King  Philip  and  to  that  of  Marie 
de'  Medici  and  of  Monsieur,  and  disregarded  the 
tyrannical  orders  of  the  minister  to  be  silent  and 
submit.  The  word  of  Anne  of  Austria,  as  Riche- 
lieu often  observed,  could  not  be  depended  upon. 
Her  Majesty,  it  was  true,  rarely  perjured  herself, 
but  her  modes  of  evasion  and  equivocation  were 
so  diverse  and  ingenious  that  she  seldom  avowed 
what  she  wished  to  conceal,  even  under  the  most 
rigid  examination ;  or  promised  exactly  that  which 
she  knew  she  had  no  intention  to  fulfil.  If  Anne 
could  have  accepted  her  lot  and  her  uncongenial 
consort  with  resignation,  her  court  might  have 
been  brilliant  and  joyous,  despite  the  absence  of 
the  great  personages  disgraced  by  the  policy  of  the 
minister.  Beautiful  women,  such  as  the  Duchesses 
de  Montbazon,10  de  Chevreuse,  and  the  Princess 
de  Guemene,11  adorned  the  court  circle ;  the  wit 
of  the  Marquise  de  Sable,  and  of  the  Prince  de 
Marsillac,  of  Madame  de  Rambouillet  and  of  the 
Princesses  Marie  and  Anne  de  Gonzague-Nevers, 
gave  verve  and  animation  ;  the  rich  heiress  of  the 
elder  branch  of  Rohan,  the  grand-daughter  of 
Sully,  was  a  prize  sufficient  to  excite  a  piquant 
emulation  amongst  the  younger  courtiers  ;  while 
the  charms  of  Anne's  maidens,  Hautefort  and 
Lafayette  and  de  Chemerault,  and  the  grace  and 
repartee  of  Mademoiselle  de  Vendome,  all  might 
have  contributed  to  the  renown  of  the  court. 
Moreover,  there  stood  in  close  proximity  to  the 
throne  Marguerite  de  Montmorency,  Princess  de 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  277 

Conde,  in  the  bright  zenith  of  her  charms,  and 
still  encircled  by  the  halo  of  the  mad  passion  of 
Henri  le  Grand.  Besides  her,  was  her  daughter 
Anne  Gene vi eve  de  Bourbon,  lovely  like  her 
mother,  of  strong  intellect,  apt  at  political  in- 
trigue, in  the  which  she  had  been  nurtured,  but 
shrinking  at  this  very  period  from  sharing  the 
grand  ancestral  home,  name  and  mature  years  of 
the  Due  de  Longueville.  By  Madame  de  Conde 
was  her  son — after  M.  d'Orleans,  heir  of  the  crown 
— afterwards  known  as  the  great  Conde,  whose 
powerful  arm  first  shook  and  then  established  the 
throne  of  the  future  Louis  Quatorze.  The  eagle 
eye  of  Richelieu  had  marked  this  noble  heir  of  the 
Condes,  and  with  unfaltering  faith  in  his  own 
fortunes  and  ability,  he  had  resolved  on  the  first 
fortunate  contingency — some  opportunity  when 
the  dark  jealousy  of  Louis  Treize  had  been  roused 
against  the  princes  of  his  blood — to  unite  the 
young  Due  d'Enghien  with  his  niece,  Claire 
Clemence  de  Maille-Breze.  Mademoiselle  de  Breze 
was  one  of  the  playfellows  of  Mademoiselle  in  her 
nursery  at  the  Tuileries  :  she  was  excessively 
petite  in  stature,  and  wore  high-heeled  shoes, 
which  entailed  upon  her  many  a  fall  while  dancing 
the  leste  courante  with  the  merry  princess,  who 
seems  to  have  amused  herself  heartily  with  the 
terrors  of  the  timid  child.  One  day  Mademoiselle 
ordered  a  ballet  to  be  performed  in  honour  of  the 
return  of  her  father,  Monsieur,  to  Paris,  in  which 
she  and  her  maidens  performed.  During  a  scene 
of  the  ballet,  a  number  of  caged  birds  were 


278  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [I68i- 

liberated,  and  a  linnet,  after  flying  about  the 
apartment,  nestled  into  one  of  the  deep  plaits  of  the 
ruff  worn  by  Mademoiselle  de  Breze,  who  screamed 
with  fright  and  fainted  as  the  bird  fluttered  about 
her  neck.  It  was  to  propitiate  Madame  de  Conde 
that  Richelieu  caused  that  wondrous  doll's  house 
to  be  constructed,  the  first  that  had  ever  been 
seen  in  France,  at  a  cost  of  2000  crowns  and 
presented  it  to  Mademoiselle  de  Bourbon.12  The 
trusty  friend  and  equerry  of  Anne  of  Austria,  de 
Rochechouart,  Chevalier  de  Jars,  had  also  re- 
ceived a  pardon  and  a  recall  from  his  banishment 
in  England,  where  he  had  remained  ever  since  the 
memorable  embassy  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham 
to  Paris,  having  been  convicted  of  carrying  to 
London  certain  missives  addressed  to  the  am- 
bassador by  his  royal  mistress.  The  Christmas  of 
1631  passed  away  in  this  negative  state  of  tran- 
quillity, when,  with  the  public  declaration  of  the 
marriage  of  Monsieur  with  Marguerite,13  sister  of 
the  Duke  of  Lorraine,  occurred  the  rising  in  Lan- 
guedoc  on  behalf  of  Monsieur  and  of  his  mother 
the  exiled  Queen,  and  the  news  that  Spain  was 
preparing  to  invade  France  at  the  summons  of  the 
heir-presumptive.  The  gallant  Due  de  Mont- 
morency,  seduced  by  the  promises  and  entreaties 
of  Monsieur,  and  misled  by  his  statements  of  the 
forces  he  could  muster  in  support  of  his  revolt, 
promised  to  receive  the  Duke  in  Languedoc,  and 
to  place  the  fortresses  and  towns  therein  in  the 
possession  of  the  rebel  forces.  The  Duke  pledged 
himself  to  Montmorency  to  enter  France  at  the 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  279 

head  of  2000  men — levies  which  he  purposed  to 
raise  in  the  Netherlands  with  funds  placed  at  his 
disposal  by  the  Queen  his  mother  who  had  dis- 
posed of  her  jewels  for  this  purpose,  and  by  the 
aid  of  the  treasury  of  Spain.  Moreover,  the  Duke 
of  Lorraine  had  engaged  to  join  their  army  with 
a  reinforcement  of  1500  men,  while  a  powerful 
body  of  Spanish  troops  was  to  appear  on  the 
frontiers  of  Savoy,  to  aid  in  the  overthrow  of  the 
usurping  minister,  and  thus  to  achieve  the  salva- 
tion of  France,  the  reunion  of  the  royal  family 
and  the  liberation  of  the  King.  Unhappily 
some  private  sources  of  discontent  rendered 
Montmorency  an  easy  dupe  to  the  sophistry  of 
Monsieur.14  He  allied  himself  with  the  Duke, 
promised  to  take  up  arms  in  his  cause,  and  to 
open  to  him  a  high  road  through  his  government 
of  Languedoc.  Having  agreed  to  the  convention, 
Montmorency  effectually  closed  against  himself 
the  avenues  of  mercy  in  the  breast  of  the  sus- 
picious Louis,  by  sending  the  Count  de  Grammont 
to  assure  the  King  of  his  fidelity,  and  that  the 
rumours  current  of  his  alliance  with  Monsieur 
were  unfounded.  Three  days  afterwards,  Monsieur 
made  his  appearance  at  Lodeve,  at  the  head  of  an 
undisciplined  band,  half  Walloon,  half  Spanish, 
officered  by  a  few  French  adventurers  and  mal- 
contents, ready  to  throw  for  the  same  lot  as 
Monsieur.  With  such  an  army  of  adventurers,  the 
Duke  hesitated  not  to  endanger  the  lives  of  cava- 
liers like  Montmorency,  Elbceuf,  Moret,  and  M.  de 
la  Valette,  the  husband  of  his  half-sister,  Gabrielle 


280  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1631- 

de  Bourbon;  and  to  make  the  risk  still  more 
fatal,  he  entered  France  three  days  before  the 
period  agreed  upon  and  while  Montmorency  was 
atLunel.  All  true  patriots  throughout  the  realm, 
much  as  they  deprecated  Richelieu's  harsh  treat- 
ment of  the  mother,  brother  and  wife  of  his 
sovereign,  rose  to  repulse  the  invaders.  Marshal 
Schomberg  was  despatched  with  an  army  to  bar 
Monsieur's  advance  on  Orleans  and  to  offer  battle 
to  the  rebels,  while  the  Marshal  de  la  Force 
entered  Languedoc  by  the  Pont  St.  Esprit,  at 
the  head  of  a  second  division.  The  marriage 
of  Monsieur  with  Marguerite  de  Lorraine  was 
solemnly  declared  null  and  void,  by  a  mandate  of 
the  privy  council  and  by  edict  of  the  Parliament, 
while  Louis  himself,  accompanied  by  Queen  Anne, 
departed  for  the  scene  of  conflict. 

Before  the  arrival  of  his  Majesty,  the  fight  of 
Castelnaudari  had  put  down  the  rebellion,  by  the 
capture  of  Montmorency  on  the  battle-field  and 
by  the  total  rout  of  the  rebels  by  the  troops  under 
Schomberg.  Monsieur  fled  from  the  field  without 
making  effort  to  retrieve  the  fortune  of  the  day  or 
to  save  the  lives  of  the  brave  men  deluded  to  their 
ruin  by  his  representations.  The  Duke  sought 
refuge  in  Beziers,  himself  secure  from  the  punish- 
ment due  to  his  rebellion,  by  his  position  as  heir- 
presumptive.  A  great  example  of  royal  justice, 
nevertheless,  was  needed;  and  it  was  decreed 
that  the  brave  and  chivalrous  Montmorency  should 
suffer  the  death  of  a  traitor  on  the  scaffold  as  a 
wholesome  warning  to  the  Due  de  Bouillon,  to 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  281 

Soissons  and  other  seditious  subjects  at    large. 
Monsieur,  therefore,  was  informed  that  pardon  for 
his  late  enterprise  might  be  obtained,  on  condition 
that  he  abandoned  Montmorency  and  other  noble 
captives  taken  at  Castelnaudari  to  the    penalty 
they  had  incurred,   and  promised  for  the  future 
"to  love  and  to  support  the  Cardinal-minister." 
All  this  Gaston  promised  with  alacrity ;  his  craven 
spirit  cowered  beneath  the  threats  of  Louis  and 
his   minister   who   were    now   on  their   way   to 
Toulouse,  followed  by  the  Princesse  de  Conde  who 
journeyed  thither  to  intercede   for  her  gallant 
brother.    On  the  27th  of  October,  Montmorency 
was  brought   under    escort    by  the  Marshal  de 
Breze  to  Toulouse  ;  and  a  commission  was  con- 
stituted, headed  by  the  Lord-Keeper  Chateauneuf , 
to  try  him  for  treason.    On  the  morrow  the  Duke 
appeared  before  his  judges.    On  the  30th  of  Octo- 
ber, 1632,  sentence  was  pronounced,  and  during 
the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  Montmorency  ex- 
piated his  crime  on  the  scaffold.    Incredible  exer- 
tions had  been  made  to  save  his  life.     Monsieur 
sent  special  messengers  three  times  to  implore  his 
pardon.    Madame  de  Conde  knelt  at  the  feet  of  the 
Cardinal  imploring  his  mercy,  having  been  refused 
admittance  to  his  Majesty's  presence.   The  Dukes 
d'Epernon  and  de  Chevreuse,  the  Cardinal  de  la 
Valette  15  and  the  Papal  Nuncio  Spada,  implored 
that  the  doom  of  death  might  be  averted.    Louis 
gloomily  replied  to  all  supplications :    "  The  fate 
of  M.  de  Montmorency  remains  with  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Toulouse,  his  judge  I  "    In  former  years, 


282  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1631- 

the  Duke  had  subscribed  himself  the  devoted 
admirer  and  servant  of  Anne  of  Austria  ;  and 
now,  in  Montmorency's  great  extremity,  the  Due 
d'Epernon  requested  audience  of  her  Majesty  to 
implore  her  intercession.  Anne  turned  very  pale ; 
she  hesitated,  but  at  length  promised  to  speak  to 
M.  le  Cardinal.  Around  the  arm  of  the  Duke,  when 
the  sleeve  of  his  habit  was  cut  on  the  field  of  battle 
to  enable  the  surgeons  to  dress  his  wounds,  a 
bracelet  was  found  containing  the  portrait  of  the 
Queen.  The  Marshal  de  Breze,  the  officer  to  whom 
Montmorency  surrendered,  took  the  bracelet, 
which  he  sent  to  his  kinsman,  Richelieu.  "  The 
King,"  says  Anquetil,  "  who  was  before  disposed 
to  show  mercy  to  the  Duke,  became  inflexibly 
resolved  on  his  death,  when  he  was  informed  by 
his  minister  that  a  portrait  had  been  taken  from 
the  person  of  the  Duke,  the  original  of  which 
respect  forbade  him  to  name ;  but  a  portrait, 
nevertheless,  which  deeply  interested  the  King."  ie 
Whether  Anne  was  aware  of  this  circumstance 
cannot  be  ascertained ;  she,  nevertheless,  ven- 
tured to  appeal  to  Richelieu,  who  in  his  conduct 
to  the  Queen  mingled  a  certain  gallantry  even  in 
his  fiercest  repulses,  and  when  she  condescended 
to  petition,  it  had  often  prevailed.  Perhaps  the 
thought  of  the  brave  hearts  and  noble  reputations 
wrecked  by  her  levity  may  have  inspired  Anne 
with  courage  on  this  occasion.  The  Duke  de  Belle- 
garde  owed  the  disfavour  which  had  terminated 
in  exile  to  her  smiles  ;  Buckingham  had  perished 
by  the  hand  of  an  assassin  when  arming  in  her 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  283 

behalf — and  as  some  believed,  by  her  secret  com- 
mand, for  the  invasion  of  her  adopted  country  ; 
Montmorency  was  about  to  perish  on  a  scaffold  ; 
the  Due  d'Orleans,  betrayed  in  the  first  instance 
by  her  beauty  and  alleged  regard  into  treasonable 
conspiracy  against  the  state,  remained  a  perpetual 
dishonour  to  the  crown  to  which  his  birth  rendered 
him  heir-presumptive,  and  lived  an  alien  from 
France.  Upon  Mesdames  de  Vernet,  de  Chevreuse, 
de  Fargis,  ruin  had  fallen  for  their  faithful  devo- 
tion to  Anne  of  Austria  ;  while  exile,  death  and 
imprisonment  had  been,  besides,  the  fate  of  numer- 
ous less  known  agents  in  her  intrigues.  Anne, 
therefore,  took  courage,  and  resolved  to  make  an 
attempt  to  save  the  life  of  Montmorency.  More- 
over, the  Queen  often  asserted  that  she  possessed 
power  over  the  inclinations  of  the  Cardinal- 
minister,  and  that  her  supplications,  when  she 
condescended  to  make  such,  would  prevail  over 
the  most  important  state  interests.  This  assertion, 
which  was  frequently  made  by  Anne,  is  not  devoid 
of  probability.  Richelieu's  anger  at  her  underhand 
proceedings  seems  ever  prompted  by  secret  depit ; 
while  the  vexatious  persecutions  by  the  which  he 
avenged  himself,  appeared  rather  to  bespeak  mor- 
tification and  an  irritable  impatience  at  not  being 
able  to  command  submission  and  confidence. 
Richelieu  listened  to  Anne's  pleadings  for  the  life 
of  Montmorency  in  silence  and  tears.  "  Je  plains 
M.  de  Montmorency ;  mais  il  ne  pent  eviter  la  mort, 
ou  une  prison  perpetuelle"  said  he.  Her  Majesty 
then  asked  the  Cardinal  whether  intercession  with 


284  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [lesi- 

the  King  would  avail,  as  she  was  resolved  to 
petition  le  Roi  Monseigneur.  "  Madame,"  replied 
Richelieu  significantly,  "  it  is  quite  possible  that 
your  prayers  will  make  a  great  impression  on  the 
mind  of  the  King  your  consort,  they  might  even 
induce  him  to  grant  your  petition  ;  nevertheless, 
Madame,  I  should  recommend  your  silence,  for  the 
violence  which  his  Majesty  might  lay  on  his  own 
wishes  and  resolves,  would  be  likely  to  bring  about 
a  return  of  the  serious  illness  under  which  the  King 
laboured  at  Lyons.  You  understand,  Madame !  "  17 
Anne  comprehended  that  she  had  received  a  tacit 
interdiction,  and  that  if  she  scorned  his  prohibi- 
tion the  Cardinal  intended  to  warn  the  King  that 
her  entreaties  to  him  to  revoke  his  resolves  had 
been  taken  in  defiance  of  the  apprehensions  ex- 
pressed by  Richelieu  concerning  the  royal  health 
— the  inference  thereby  to  be  deduced  being 
that  Anne  cared  more  for  the  rescue  of  Mont- 
morency  than  for  the  health  of  her  consort.  Louis 
suffered  many  relentings  and  much  mental 
emotion,  before  he  suffered  the  strong  hand  of 
Richelieu  to  guide  his  own  for  the  signature  of  the 
Duke's  death-warrant.  Strict  justice,  doubtless, 
clamoured  for  the  head  of  Montmorency  ;  but 
Monsieur  ought  not  to  have  escaped  retribution 
for  invading  France  at  the  head  of  a  foreign  force 
levied  by  funds  provided  by  Queen  Marie  and 
increased  by  contributions  from  the  Spanish 
exchequer.18  If  Monsieur  had  possessed  military 
talent,  or  even  common  sagacity  and  punctuality,  a 
frightful  civil  war  might  have  ravaged  the  kingdom. 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  285 

This  formidable  invasion  had  been  neutralised 
only  by  the  childish  impatience  of  Monsieur 
who  arrived  at  Lodeve  three  days  earlier  than  the 
time  fixed  for  the  outbreak  of  hostilities.  "  As  a 
private  individual,"  said  the  King,  "  I  would  fain 
save  M.  de  Montmorency,  but  I  should  not  act 
as  a  king  if  I  suffered  my  people  to  be  invaded  and 
myself  to  be  defied  by  rebels.  I  may  not  exercise 
compassion ;  my  duty  is  stern  but  it  is  in- 
exorable." 19 

The  death  of  the  Marshal  de  Montmorency  was 
first  resolved  in  a  private  council,  at  which  were 
present  only  the  King,  the  Cardinal,  his  shadow 
the  Capuchin  Joseph,  and  Chateauneuf,  lord- 
keeper.  The  crime  of  Montmorency  was  the  more 
unpardonable,  inasmuch  as  M.  d'Orleans  had  been 
received  in  Languedoc  with,  and  by  the  tacit  con- 
sent of,  the  States  of  the  province,  on  the  demand 
of  the  Marshal — an  aggravation  of  his  treason 
which  merited  direst  expiation.  The  matter  was 
afterwards  laid  before  the  privy  council .  Richelieu 
opened  the  debate  by  demanding  that  Justice 
should  be  permitted  to  take  her  course,  that  a 
commission  should  be  empannelled  to  try  M.  de 
Montmorency,  and  that  the  sentence  of  the  judges 
should  be  confirmed.  No  person  present  dared  to 
plead  in  defiance  of  the  opinion  of  the  Cardinal.20 
The  blood  of  Montmorency  haunted,  ever  after- 
wards, the  unfortunate  King.  Madame  la  Prin- 
cesse  left  no  pause  of  forgetfulness  to  any  person- 
age who  had  promoted  the  catastrophe  of  her 
brother's  overthrow.  Her  enmity  to  the  Duke  of 


286  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1681- 

Orleans,  who  so  dishonourably  abandoned  Mont- 
morency  to  his  fate,  never  relaxed.  The  Lord 
Keeper  Chateauneuf,  the  presiding  judge  at  the 
trial  of  the  Marshal,  ere  long  felt  the  effect  of  the 
vengeance  of  the  Conde  family,  which  refused  to 
be  propitiated  by  the  gift  of  a  great  part  of  the 
confiscated  possessions  of  Montmorency,  including 
Chantilly,  Ecouen,  Marlou  and  other  magnificent 
domains.21  The  mental  and  personal  gifts  of  the 
Due  de  Montmorency,  so  highly  lauded  by  most 
contemporary  historians,  are  more  soberly  dis- 
cussed by  Tallemant  des  Reaux,  the  Brantome  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  "  The  last  Due  de  Mont- 
morency," writes  Tallemant,22  "  became  master 
of  his  revenues  at  the  age  of  nineteen.  Although 
his  eyes  squinted  somewhat,  the  Duke  was  a 
handsome  man.  He  was  an  adept  in  the  use  and 
practice  of  the  most  refined  and  agreeable  gestures, 
and  spoke  rather  by  his  arms  than  with  his  tongue. 
He  sometimes  commenced  a  compliment  and  was 
obliged  to  stop  half  way,  so  that  often  it  was  as 
much  as  one  could  do  not  to  laugh.  He  did  not 
talk  nonsense,  but  he  had  little  wit  and  no  readi- 
ness of  diction.  He  was  brave,  rich,  gallant, 
liberal,  a  good  dancer,  a  graceful  rider,  a  hospitable 
host  to  men  of  wit  and  learning,  many  of  whom  he 
engaged  in  his  service  and  who  furnished  him  with 
verses  and  sentiments.  He  gave  away  to  the  poor, 
he  was  beloved  by  all  the  world  and  adored  by  his 
own  people.  He  was  very  generous.  One  day  the 
Duke  overheard  a  gentleman  exclaim,  '  If  I  could 
find  any  person  who  would  lend  me  20,000  crowns 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  287 

for  two  years,  my  fortune  would  be  made !  ' 
Montmorency  lent  the  sum.  At  the  expiration  of 
the  two  years,  the  gentleman  honourably  offered 
the  money.  '  Go,  monsieur,'  said  the  Duke  ;  '  by 
keeping  your  word  you  have  sufficiently  repaid 
me.  I  present  to  you  this  sum  with  all  my  heart.' 
During  his  passion  for  Madame  de  Sable,  the  Duke 
one  day  sent  her  deeds,  making  donation  of  an 
estate  worth  40,000  livres  annually,  which  how- 
ever the  Marquise  declined  to  accept.  Mont- 
morency fell  desperately  in  love  with  Queen  Anne 
of  Austria,  but  Buckingham  and  his  English 
lords  counteracted  that  passion." 

The  executions  over,  consequent  on  the  defeat 
of  Castelnaudari,  and  the  awards  announced, 
Louis  departed  for  Versailles,  sick  and  dismal  in 
mind  and  body  and  anxious  to  revert  to  confiden- 
tial discussions  with  Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort. 
Monsieur  was  permitted  to  repair  to  Orleans, 
gratified  by  the  assurances  given  him  by  the 
Capuchin  Joseph,  "  that  his  Majesty  pardoned  his 
treason,  but  could  on  no  account  acknowledge 
the  legality  of  his  marriage  with  Marguerite  de 
Lorraine."  The  Duke's  penitence  was  always  very 
evanescent  and  his  fears  of  Richelieu  acute ;  he 
therefore  speedily  again  took  occasion  to  retire 
to  Brussels,  on  the  plea  that  after  the  execution 
of  the  Due  de  Montmorency  his  honour  forbade 
him  to  remain  a  placid  spectator  of  the  "  perfidi- 
ous perfidies  "  of  M.  le  Cardinal  de  Richelieu, 
which  tended  to  the  ruin  of  the  kingdom  and  of 
the  royal  dynasty.  Louis,  on  his  departure  from 


288  THE  MARRIED  LIFE    OF         [1631_ 

Toulouse,  left  Queen  Anne  in  the  safe  custody  of 
his  minister,  who  conducted  her,  attended  by  the 
Duchess  de  Chevreuse  and  the  Marquise  de  Senece, 
to  Bordeaux.     Much  against  her  will,  the  Queen 
had   been  compelled  to  accompany  her  consort 
to  the  scene  of  warfare  in  the  West,  but  the  risk 
had  been  considered  too  great  to  suffer  Anne  to 
remain  alone  in  the  capital  while  the   kingdom 
was   menaced   by   a   Spanish   invasion   both   in 
Languedoc  and  Picardy.  The  ambassador  Mirabel, 
it  was  true,  was  withdrawn  from  Paris,  in  con- 
sequence  of   the   close   alliance   now   subsisting 
between  France,  the  Protestant  princes  of  Ger- 
many, and  Sweden,  to  cripple  the  imperial  power 
of  Ferdinand  II.  and  to  promote  the  downfall  of 
Spanish  predominance  in  the  councils  of  Europe. 
Anne,   nevertheless,   was   strongly   suspected   of 
making  communications  to  her  brother  through 
one  Gerbier,  an  attache  of  the  English  embassy. 
Moreover,  it  had  been  ascertained  that  she  had 
sent  for  Seiior  Navas,  Spanish  charge  d'affaires, 
then  resident  in  Paris,  who  was  introduced  at  dusk 
hour  into  an  apartment  of  the  Salles  des  Bains  at 
the  Louvre.    The  Queen  addressed  Navas  as  she 
passed  out  attended  by  Madame  de  Chevreuse  on 
her  way  to  the  grands  appartements  and  said  only, 
though  significantly,  the  words :    "  Take  care  of 
yourselves  ;  I  know  that  there  is  a  traitor  amongst 
you  who  betrays  to  M.  le  Cardinal  all  that  passes." 
This  intimation  was  given  just  before  the  rising  in 
the  South  and  excited  much  suspicion.     Richelieu 
from  that  moment  watched  Madame  de   Chev- 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  289 

reuse,  Chateauneuf  and  others  who  under  colour 
of  devotion  to  his  interests  might  be  carrying  on 
a  double  game.  Chateauneuf  was  always  present 
when  the  minister  communicated  to  Louis  the 
cancans,  as  well  as  the  more  important  facts 
gleaned  by  his  secret  police.  Anne,  therefore, 
in  consequence  of  these  reports,  had  not  been 
suffered  to  seek  her  accustomed  refuge  at  St. 
Germain  during  the  King's  progress  to  the  South. 
In  answer  to  some  inquiries  made  by  Richelieu 
Madame  de  Chevreuse,  nevertheless,  had  boldly 
replied  that,  "  having  asked  her  Majesty  whether 
she  might  assure  the  King  that  her  correspondence 
and  conduct  were  such  as  his  Majesty  approved, 
Queen  Anne  had  frankly  replied  in  the  affirmative. 
The  Duchess,  therefore,  informs  M.  le  Cardinal 
that  she  believes  the  Queen  has  no  relations  with 
Spain,  with  Monsieur,  with  the  Queen-mother  or 
with  any  person."  23 

After  his  return  to  Paris,  Richelieu  set  himself 
to  elucidate  the  mystery  which  tormented  him, 
and  by  the  aid  of  his  trained  spies  to  investigate 
more  closely  the  life  of  Madame  de  Chevreuse. 
During  the  sojourn  of  Anne  and  her  court  at 
Bordeaux,  the  Cardinal  had  been  severely  indis- 
posed from  the  fatigue  and  agitation  of  the  late 
trials — so  much  so  that  for  some  hours  his  case 
was  thought  desperate.  The  Queen,  however,  had 
not  thought  proper  to  suspend  her  evening  recep- 
tion, and  the  Cardinal  was  informed  that  the 
beautiful  Duchess  and  her  friend  Chateauneuf  had 
danced  together  merrily,  and  had  even  been 


290  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1631- 

overheard  to  make  sundry  uncomplimentary  allu- 
sions to  the  sick  minister.  Such  levity  seemed  ill  to 
accord  with  the  expressions  of  devotion  proffered 
by  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  or  with  the  gratitude 
so  fluently  professed  by  M.  de  Chateauneuf  for  his 
elevation  to  the  high  office  of  Lord-Keeper  of  the 
Great  Seal  of  France.     The  King  retired  to  St. 
Germain    after   giving   his    minister   a    splendid 
welcome  back  to  Paris,  where  he  brooded  over 
his  regrets  for  the   death  of  Montmorency,  and 
nursed    his    returning    indignation    against    the 
Queen,  upon  whom  he  mentally  resented  every 
fresh  aggression  on  France  made  by  her  Spanish 
kindred.    The  Queen,  again  established  amid  the 
solitudes  of  the  Louvre,  summoned  her  little  knot 
of  intimates.  These  personages  were  Mesdames  de 
Chevreuse,  de  Senece,24  de  Montbazon,  de  Haute- 
fort,  de  la  Fayette,  Madame  de  la  Flotte,   the 
Princess  de  Conde,  the  Lord-Keeper  Chateauneuf, 
the    Chevalier    de    Jars,    the    Count    de    Biron, 
Montagu  and   many  personages  of  inferior  rank 
who  in  former  reigns  would  not  have  been  ad- 
mitted to  les  petites  entrees  of  the  Queen  of  France. 
A  precious  document,25  found  by  M.  Victor  Cousin 
in  the  archives  of  the  French  Foreign  Office — that 
rich  mine  of  historical  wealth  now  unfortunately 
closed  to  the  public — recounts  the  surgings  of  the 
great  Cardinal's  wrath  against  his  suspected  foe, 
Chateauneuf,    as    daily    he    added    one    fact    to 
another,  until,  exasperated  by  such  ingratitude, 
Richelieu  ordered  his  arrest,  February  1633,  and 
the  seizure  of  the  papers  and  effects  of  the  un- 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  291 

happy  Lord-Keeper.  The  true  cause  of  this  arrest 
was  occasioned  by  the  mad  jealousy  of  Richelieu, 
who  found  that  he  had  been  deceived  and  flouted 
by  the  beautiful  woman  whose  professions  of  love 
and  fidelity  had  disarmed  his  suspicion.  Madame 
de  Chevreuse  had  all  along  been  the  ally,  and  it 
must  be  added  the  mistress,  of  Chateauneuf,  over 
whom  she  exercised  such  sway  that  the  political 
secrets  of  the  Cardinal,  of  necessity  confided  to  the 
Lord-Keeper,  had  been  betrayed  to  the  Duchess 
and  by  her  confided  to  Anne  of  Austria.  Far, 
therefore,  from  having  performed  the  conditions 
of  her  recall  from  exile,  the  Duchess  had  fomented 
and  had  been  the  soul  of  every  hostile  intrigue— 
"  indeed  the  world  seemed  too  small  to  hold  this 
intriguing  and  turbulent  pair."  "  Chateauneuf," 
writes  the  Cardinal  in  his  Memoir,  "  mingled  in  all 
the  cabals  of  the  court ;  particularly  he  took  part 
with  our  factious  ladies,  the  principal  of  whom 
was  the  Duchess  of  Chevreuse,  whose  conduct  and 
evil  spirit  had  often  displeased  the  King,  as  she 
never  failed  to  join  the  cabals  raised  against  his 
crown  ;  but  more  than  this,  she  appeared  always 
as  a  dangerous  leader  of  parties."  Richelieu  com- 
mences the  recital  of  his  private  grievances  against 
Chateauneuf  from  a  very  early  period.  "  During 
the  predominance  of  the  Marquis  d'Ancre,  le  Sieur 
de  Chateauneuf  was  on  bad  terms  with  the  Cardinal 
de  Richelieu.  When  the  Cardinal  believed  himself 
to  be  dismissed  ('  Journee  des  Dupes  '),  the  said 
Sieur  de  Chateauneuf  did  all  he  could  against 
him.n  In  this  curious  document,  the  names  of  the 


292  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [iesi- 

persons  mentioned  are  indicated  by  ciphers: 
number  9  stood  for  Madame  de  Chevreuse. 
Richelieu  accuses  Chateauneuf  of  gross  perfidy  ; 
of  being  on  the  side  of  Monsieur  and  the  Queen- 
mother,  while  taking  office  under  his  ministry  ; 
of  betraying  state  secrets  to  Madame  de  Chev- 
reuse and  even  to  Queen  Anne  ;  of  keeping  up 
a  private  and  traitorous  correspondence  with 
England,  of  which  the  Cardinal  had  been  warned 
by  Weston,  the  English  ambassador  in  Paris,  who 
declared  that  the  Lord-Keeper  constantly  cor- 
responded with  Queen  Henrietta  Maria,  and  gave 
pernicious  advice  to  her  Majesty  upon  religious 
questions  ; 26  that  her  Britannic  Majesty  had  been 
heard  several  times  to  express  disgust  at  the 
policy  of  the  Cardinal  in  supporting  the  Protes- 
tant princes  of  Germany  against  the  Emperor  ; 
adding,  "  that  M.  le  Garde  des  Sceaux  did  not 
share  in  such  councils,  but  that  he  was  her 
especial  friend  and  servant,  and  that  France 
would  be  much  better  governed  after  the  death  of 
M.  le  Cardinal."  Richelieu  also  accuses  Chateau- 
neuf of  duplicity  in  the  affair  of  M.  de  Mont- 
morency ;  stating  that  the  Lord-Keeper  told 
M.  de  Chaudebonne,  the  confidential  agent  of 
Monsieur  and  others,  that  he  had  desired  to  save 
the  life  of  the  duke  and  had  vainly  made  inter- 
cession— when,  on  the  contrary,  M.  le  Garde  des 
Sceaux  had  been  the  first  to  propose  the  execution 
of  the  said  duke,  and  had  told  the  Cardinal  that 
he  would  never  consent  to  so  pernicious  a  use 
of  the  royal  clemency  ;  that  he  had,  moreover, 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  298 

proposed  that  execution  should  be  done  by  mandate 
of  the  council ;  and  had  angrily  deprecated  the 
resolve  taken  to  try  M.de  Montmorency  before  a 
regularly  constituted  court ;  that  Chateauneuf 
had  betrayed  to  Madame  de  Chevreuse  the  fact  of 
the  marriage  of  Monsieur  with  Marguerite  de 
Lorraine,  when  it  greatly  imported  to  the  royal 
service  that  the  accomplishment  of  such  should 
be  held  secret.  Chateauneuf  had  also  tried  to 
discredit  the  Cardinal  de  Richelieu  with  the  Jesuit 
Order.  He  was  also  in  frequent  correspondence 
with  the  exiled  rebels — with  Monsieur  and  Queen 
Marie — all  in  defiance  of  his  oath  of  fidelity  to  the 
King  and  of  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  his 
office.  This  paper  the  Cardinal  drew  up  for  his 
own  special  use,  and  it  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
produced  against  the  Lord-Keeper.  On  the  25th 
of  February,  1633,  Chateauneuf  was  arrested  at 
St.-Germain-en-Laye  on  leaving  the  palace  after 
an  audience  of  the  King,  and  conducted  under  a 
strong  escort  to  his  chateau  at  Ruff  ec,  in  Limousin. 
The  day  following  his  house  in  Paris  was  searched 
by  the  under  secretaries  of  state,  Bouthillier, 
Bullion  and  Chavigny,  who  seized  his  papers, 
which  filled  several  large  coffers,  and  conveyed 
them  to  the  abode  of  M.  de  Bullion.  On  the  29th 
of  February,  the  papers  were  sorted  and  analysed 
and  forwarded  to  Richelieu,  who  discovered  what 
he  suspected — a  large  packet  of  letters  addressed 
to  Chateauneuf  by  the  Duchess  de  Chevreuse, 
partly  written  in  cipher,  the  key  to  which,  how- 
ever, was  found  in  an  ebony  cabinet,  which  had 


294  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1631- 

been  also  conveyed  from  the  house  of  the  Lord- 
Keeper,  on  the  supposition  that  important  papers 
were  concealed  in  its  secret  recesses.  Amongst  the 
spoil  captured  were  fifty-two  letters  from  Madame 
de  Chevreuse ;  thirty-one  from  Montagu,  which 
treated  of  foreign  alliances  and  conspiracies  for 
the  overthrow  of  Richelieu's  power  ;  twenty-nine 
letters  from  the  Chevalier  du  Jars,  who  seems  to 
have  acted  as  a  busy  agent  of  M.  d'Orleans  in 
France  during  the  late  risings,  and  as  his  royal 
highness's  servant  in  every  mischievous  intrigue 
for  the  subversion  of  the  government ;  thirty-one 
letters  from  the  Queen  of  Great  Britain  ;  and  one 
paper  of  verses — all  which  were  immediately 
placed  in  a  portfolio  and  forwarded  unopened  to 
King  Louis  at  St.  Germain.  Numbers  of  letters, 
also,  were  found  from  Lord  Holland,  M.  de  Puy- 
laurents,  favourite-in-chief  of  Monsieur,  from  the 
Duke  de  Vendome  and  the  Count  de  Biron — all 
bitter  opponents  of  the  Cardinal.27  The  correspon- 
dence of  Madame  de  Chevreuse  with  the  Lord- 
Keeper  was  the  booty  which  Richelieu  panted  to 
peruse,  and  to  gain  possession  of  which  he  had 
instituted  these  summary  proceedings.  The  rage 
and  mortification  of  Richelieu  are  not  to  be 
described  when  he  discovered  by  this  correspon- 
dence that  the  woman  whom  he  admired,  and 
whom  he  had  restored  to  her  former  proud 
position,  was  faithless,  and  pitilessly  ridiculed  his 
weakness  to  his  fortunate  rival.  What  was  worse, 
the  Cardinal  saw  himself  designated  in  their  cor- 
respondence under  a  sobriquet  too  insulting  and 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  295 

indecent  to  find  place  in  these  pages.  "  28 J8 
(Madame  de  Chevreuse)  saw  22  (the  Cardinal) 
to-day,  when  with  24  (the  Queen).  He  paid  24  all 
the  compliments  imaginable  before  28,  to  whom 
he  affected  to  speak  coldly  and  indifferently  ;  but 
she  treated  him  in  her  accustomed  manner,  and 
feigned  not  to  perceive  his  humour.  In  reply  to  a 
jest  hazarded  by  the  Cardinal,  Madame  de  Chev- 
reuse rallied  him,  even  to  the  point  of  speaking 
slightingly  of  his  power.  The  Cardinal  seemed 
astonished  rather  than  angry,  and  changed  his 
tone  to  one  of  civility  and  great  courtesy.  I  know 
not  whether  it  was  that  he  did  not  wish  to  show 
anger  in  the  presence  of  the  Queen,  or  whether  he 
did  not  desire  to  quarrel  with  Madame  de  Chev- 
reuse. I  am  to  see  the  Cardinal  to-morrow  at  two 
o'clock.  Be  assured  that  Madame  de  Chevreuse 
will  have  left  this  world  when  she  ceases  to  belong 
to  you."  29  In  another  letter  Richelieu  stumbled 
on  the  following  observations  :  "  I  (Madame  de 
Chevreuse)  have  no  news  lately  from  the  Cardinal. 
If  he  is  as  glad  not  to  hear  of  me  as  I  am  not  to 
hear  from  him,  he  is  now  highly  content,  and  I 
delivered  from  a  persecution  from  which  time  and 
my  own  good  wit  may  free  me.  The  tyranny  of 
the  Cardinal  momentarily  increases.  He  storms 
and  raves  because  28  (Madame  de  Chevreuse)  does 
not  call  upon  him.  Twice  I  have  written  to  him 
compliments  of  which  he  is  unworthy — a  thing 
I  should  never  have  done  but  for  M.  de  Chevreuse, 
who  tells  me  that  is  the  way  to  buy  peace.  The 
favour  of  the  King  has  raised  his  presumption  to 


296  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1631- 

a  pitch  which  cannot  be  surpassed.  He  thinks  to 
daunt  me,  and  would  fain  persuade  himself  that 
there  is  nothing  that  I  would  not  do  to  appease 
him,  although  I  prefer  to  perish  rather  than  to 
make  submission.  The  pride  of  the  Cardinal  is 
intolerable  to  me.  He  said  recently  to  my  husband 
that  my  humour  was  unbearable  to  a  sensitive 
person  like  himself,  and  that  he  had  resolved  to 
render  me  in  future  no  especial  attention,  as  I 
was  not  capable  of  conferring  either  friendship  or 
confidence.  I  confide  this  only  to  you.  Do  not 
apprise  M.  de  Chevreuse  that  you  know  this.  He 
has  quarrelled  with  me,  being  intimidated  by  the 
insolence  of  the  said  Cardinal,  and  because  I 
would  not  endure  such  obloquy.  I  have  that 
opinion  of  your  courage  and  affection  that  I  wish 
you  to  know  everything  that  concerns  me.  I  so 
entirely  trust  you  that  I  deem  my  interests  as  safe 
in  your  hands  as  in  my  own.  Love  me  with 
fidelity,  and  believe  that,  despite  of  persecution, 
I  will  ever  show  myself  worthy  thereof."  Again 
the  Duchess  wrote  :  "  To-night  the  Cardinal  sent 
me  a  letter  by  express,  to  implore  me  to  grant 
him  two  things  :  the  first  was,  not  to  speak  to 
M.  de  Biron,  and  the  second,  never  to  admit 
you  (M.  de  Chateauneuf).  My  resolve  to  demon- 
strate my  affection  for  M.  de  Chateauneuf  is 
stronger  than  any  consideration  for  the  Cardinal. 
I  have  therefore  excused  myself  to  the  said 
Cardinal,  on  the  plea  that  my  affairs  with  M.  de 
Chevreuse  compel  me  to  see  M.  de  Chateauneuf." 
The  Duchess  sends  with  this  letter  a  valuable 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  297 

diamond  to  her  lover  ;  she  exhorts  him  to  be 
firm  as  the  precious  gem  she  sends  him,  and  to 
shine  like  its  lustrous  rays,  a  light  amid  darkness. 
Again  she  writes  in  the  third  person  :  "I  believe 
that  M.  de  Chateauneuf  is  absolutely  devoted  to 
Madame  de  Chevreuse.  Madame  de  Chevreuse 
promises  eternal  fidelity  to  M.  de  Chateauneuf. 
If  all  the  world  turn  against  M.  de  Chateauneuf, 
Madame  de  Chevreuse  will  love  and  esteem  him 
worthily.  If  he  loves  her  as  he  states,  Madame  de 
Chevreuse  will  satisfy  him,  for  all  the  powers  of 
earth  cannot  make  her  change  her  resolve.  She 
swears  to  you  that  this  is  fact,  and  commands  you 
to  believe  it  and  to  love  faithfully."  The  Duchess 
kept  this  vow.  To  the  day  of  his  death  she  was 
faithful  in  her  attachment  to  the  Lord-Keeper 
through  weal  and  woe,  refusing  to  participate  in 
any  future  triumphs  after  the  death  of  their 
enemy,  Richelieu,  unless  shared  by  him.  Chateau- 
neuf had  passed  his  fiftieth  year,  he  was  plain  in 
person,  without  courtly  grace  or  wit.  Amid  all 
her  aberrations,  Madame  de  Chevreuse  never 
abjured  her  one  great  redeeming  attribute — 
fidelity.  Bitter  must  have  been  Richelieu's  reflec- 
tions as  he  perused  this  correspondence,  and 
probably  pictured  the  mocking  lip  and  wicked 
merriment  of  the  beautiful  syren  whom  he  feared, 
and  whom,  because  he  st)  feared,  he  wished  to 
bend  to  his  toils.  "  The  Cardinal's  mad  vagaries 
are  wonderful  !  ':  continues  the  impracticable 
Duchess.  "  He  sent  for  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  and 
made  strange  complaints.  He  declared  that  she 


298  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [icai- 

was  perpetually  sparring  with  him  in  the  presence 
of  Lord  Jermyn,  in  order  that  the  said  lord  might 
return  to  his  country  and  recount  how  little 
respect  she  bore  him.  He  said  he  knew  that 
Madame  de  Chevreuse  and  M.  de  Chateauneuf 
understand  each  other  ;  and  that  she  also  receives 
M.  de  Biron,  though  all  the  world  knows  that  the 
said  Biron  is  in  love  with  her — a  proceeding  M.  le 
Cardinal  is  resolved  no  longer  to  tolerate.  Madame 
de  Chevreuse  is  in  better  health,  and  more  resolved 
than  ever  to  esteem  M.  de  Chateauneuf  as  she  has 
promised  him."  "  Chateauneuf,"  writes  Tallemant, 
"  etoit  un  homme  tout  confit  en  galanterie.  I  have 
seen  him  ride  on  horseback  by  the  Queen's  coach, 
on  the  side  occupied  by  Madame  de  Chevreuse, 
attired  in  a  splendid  satin  robe,  and  displaying 
his  horsemanship.  The  Cardinal  was  devoured 
with  jealousy,  especially  as  it  was  suspected  that 
the  Garde  des  Sceaux  was  also  an  admirer  of  the 
Queen."  The  thunder  of  the  minister's  wrath  soon 
fell  on  these  unhappy  triflers.  The  very  nature  of 
the  correspondence  seized  in  the  dwelling  of  M.  de 
Chateauneuf  precluded  his  public  arraignment  for 
treason.  The  King's  sister,  Henrietta  Maria,  was 
compromised,  and  Richelieu  shrank  from  public 
ridicule,  such  as  would  have  befallen  him  on  the 
publication  of  the  letters  of  Madame  de  Chev- 
reuse and  from  the  unsparing  revelations  likely 
to  fall  from  the  lips  of  the  Duchess  if  put  upon  her 
trial  by  the  side  of  Chateauneuf.  Orders  were 
despatched  to  remove  the  ex-Lord-Keeper  to  the 
citadel  of  Angouleme,  where  he  was  subjected  to 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  299 

severe  incarceration  and  privations,  for  what  the 
Cardinal  called  "  un  mauvais  procede"  and  totally 
debarred  from  communication  with  the  world. 
Having  thus  avenged  himself  on  his  faithless 
friend,  Richelieu  proceeded  next  to  exile  the 
Duchess  de  Chevreuse,  with  all  startling  formali- 
ties. In  the  dead  of  the  night,  an  officer  of  the 
royal  guard,  followed  by  a  troop,  entered  the 
court-yard  of  the  superb  dwelling  of  the  Duchess. 
An  instant  interview  was  demanded  de  par  le  roi. 
Madame  de  Chevreuse  appeared  and  was  pre- 
sented with  a  lettre  de  cachet,  which  exiled  her  to 
Dampierre,  where  she  was  to  remain  under  sur- 
veillance. Five  hours  only  were  allowed  her  to 
make  preparation  for  departure  from  the  capital.30 
Escorted  by  a  guard  of  soldiers,  Madame  de 
Chevreuse  reached  her  destination  before  the 
Queen  heard  of  her  exile. 

The  minor  personages,  meanwhile — those  with- 
in the  reach  of  the  minister's  vengeance — paid  the 
penalty  of  their  patron's  misdemeanour.  Arrests 
were  made  on  all  sides  :  a  fear  came  over  the 
people  of  Paris  that  another  dire  conspiracy  had 
transpired.  The  Chevalier  du  Jars  was  arrested, 
thrown  into  the  Bastille,  tried  before  the  infamous 
Judge  Laffemas,  popularly  called  le  bourreau  du 
Cardinal,  tortured,  condemned  to  decapitation  for 
holding  intelligence  with  Monsieur,  and  for  trea- 
sonable collusion  with  the  enemies  of  the  realm. 
On  the  scaffold  with  his  head  on  the  block,  the 
unfortunate  man,  waiting  for  the  headsman's 
swift  blow,  was  informed  that  the  King's  gracious 


300  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1631- 

clemency  had  commuted  his  punishment  into  in- 
carceration for  life  in  the  Bastille. 31  The  Chevalier 
fainted  away,  and  suffered  ever  afterwards  from 
partial  paralysis  of  the  limbs.  The  brother  of  the 
Garde  des  Sceaux,  the  Marquis  de  Hauterive, 
escaped  in  disguise  to  the  coast,  put  off  from 
France  in  a  fishing  smack  and  was  landed  in 
Holland  after  undergoing  extraordinary  perils 
and  privations.  The  Count  de  Leuville,  the 
young  son  of  Hauterive,  was  seized  and  conveyed 
to  the  Bastille  by  command  of  Richelieu  ;  while 
every  relative,  however  distant,  of  the  ex-Keeper 
of  the  Seals  was  banished  from  the  capital.  The 
depit  amoureux  of  the  Cardinal  could  scarcely 
avenge  itself  more  rigorously,  especially  after 
Queen  Anne  received  commands  from  the  lips  of 
her  royal  consort  to  cease  all  correspondence  with 
the  exiled  Duchess  on  pain  of  incurring  his  signal 
displeasure. 

Anne,  deeming  that  she  had  been  treated  with 
very  little  deference  in  the  matter,  and  that  some 
communication  was  due  to  her  dignity  before 
her  chief  lady  of  honour  was  summarily  deposed 
and  exiled,  listened  to  her  husband's  prohibition 
with  that  icy  composure  which  Louis  said,  "  was 
always  a  sure  indication  that  the  Queen  intended 
to  follow  her  own  pleasure."  It  was  now  the 
Queen's  habit,  when  in  Paris,  to  retire  during  a 
part  of  every  day  to  the  Val-de-Grace.  In  the 
oratory  stood  a  box  in  which  Anne  placed  any 
correspondence  she  wished  to  despatch  secretly, 
and  in  which  she  found  the  letters  sent  to  her 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  301 

privately  under  cover  to  the  abbess,  or  that  had 
been  boldly  left  for  her  at  the  gate.  The  touriere 
was  the  Queen's  devoted  servant,  and  received  all 
letters,  which  she  gave  to  the  abbess,  who  at  the 
same  time  confided  to  her  any  which  had  been 
written  by  the  Queen  and  left  at  the  convent  to  be 
despatched.  Letters  from  the  King  of  Spain, 
from  the  Empress  Marguerite  her  sister,  from  the 
Infant  Don  Ferdinando,  from  Queen  Henrietta 
Maria,  from  the  Queen-mother,  and  from  Mon- 
sieur, thus  came  to  Anne  privately  and  unknown 
to  the  King.  At  this  period  the  energies  of 
France  were  almost  spent  in  maintaining  the 
national  honour.  War  was  raging  in  Germany, 
and  every  political  betrayal  might  cause  events  of 
momentous  import ;  and  French  soldiers  were 
meeting  on  the  field  of  battle  the  combined  hosts 
of  Spain  and  the  Empire.  From  the  Val-de- 
Grace  Anne,  therefore,  communicated  with  the 
Duchess  de  Chevreuse,  and  for  some  weeks  they 
interchanged  a  secret  but  active  correspondence. 
Madame  de  Chevreuse,  furious  against  the  Car- 
dinal, was  ready  to  sacrifice  anything  for  ven- 
geance. Dampierre,  the  place  of  her  exile,  was 
then  a  dreary  and  half-furnished  chateau.32  M. 
de  Chevreuse  cherished  a  great  distaste  for  the 
place,  which,  during  the  reign  of  Henri  Quatre, 
had  likewise  been  his  prison,  to  avenge  the 
audacity  of  his  homage  to  the  favourite,  the 
Marquise  de  Verneuil.  Richelieu  had  managed  to 
infuse  an  additional  sting  in  his  punishment  by 
sending  the  Duchess  to  her  husband's  castle  of 


302  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1681- 

Dampierre,  from  whom,  when  in  the  plenitude  of 
her  power  and  pride  she  had  obtained  a  separa- 
tion. Correspondence  at  length  failed  to  satisfy 
the  Queen  and  her  friend ;  they  determined  to 
meet,  in  defiance  of  the  minister  and  his  man- 
dates. One  day,  therefore,  Marie  disguised  her- 
self in  the  coarse  garb  of  a  peasant  woman,  and 
stealing  from  the  castle  on  foot  actually  arrived 
at  the  Val  de  Grace  at  vesper  hour.  Anne  was  in 
her  oratory,  and  the  two  friends  fell  into  each 
other's  arms  to  weep  and  lament  their  persecu- 
tion and  to  devise  fresh  snares  to  entrap  their 
common  enemy.  "  Madame  de  Chevreuse,"  writes 
Tallemant,  "  was  exiled  to  Dampierre,  from 
whence  she  came  to  visit  the  Queen,  in  the 
disguise  of  a  dirty  vagrant,  at  the  hour  we  call 
entre  Men  et  loup."  This  meeting  occurred  twice, 
according  to  the  statement  which,  at  a  subsequent 
period,  the  Queen  was  compelled  to  make  on  oath. 
Other  chroniclers,  however,  relate  that  the  clan- 
destine interviews  between  Anne  and  her  friend 
were  frequent  and  were,  for  an  interval,  enjoyed 
with  impunity. 

The  audacious  defiance  of  his  command,  never- 
theless, at  length  came  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
Cardinal,  and  was  by  him  communicated  to  King 
Louis.  A  few  hours  later  a  coach,  escorted  by  a 
company  of  musketeers,  drove  into  the  court- 
yard of  the  castle  of  Dampierre,  and  Madame  de 
Chevreuse  was  directed  to  enter  the  vehicle.  In 
vain  Marie  expostulated  and  petitioned  for  delay ; 
she  was  compelled  to  submit,  and  on  being  shown 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  303 

the  instructions  given  to  the  commanding  officer 
of  the  escort,  even  to  congratulate  herself  on  the 
leniency  with  which  she  was  treated.  The  Con- 
stable de  Luynes  had  bequeathed  the  domain  and 
chateau  de  Milly  to  his  widow.  The  castle  was  a 
few  miles  from  Tours,  and  stood  in  the  midst  of  a 
vast  forest.  Before  the  high  altar  of  its  chapel 
was  the  tomb  of  the  late  Constable.  To  this 
lonesome  abode  Richelieu  now  consigned  the 
Duchess ;  one  waiting-woman  only  was  permitted 
to  share  her  capitivity,  her  actions  were  sub- 
jected to  strict  surveillance,  and  all  pecuniary 
expenses  incurred  by  the  inmates  of  the  chateau 
were  to  be  defrayed  and  regulated  by  the  Due  de 
Chevreuse !  In  vain  Marie,  frantic  with  im- 
potent rage,  defied,  and  even  threatened,  her  foe  : 
so  vigilantly  was  the  surveillance  maintained  by 
the  officer  on  guard  that,  for  an  interval,  the 
restless  intrigante  was  thoroughly  caged. 

King  Louis  XIII.,  during  these  events,  gave  the 
Cardinal  no  less  cause  for  dissatisfaction.  His 
Majesty's  platonic  friendship  with  De  Hautefort 
prospered  not :  if  the  latter  spoke  to  any  cavalier 
of  the  court,  if  she  smiled  while  Louis  felt  sad,  if 
she  yawned  with  irrepressible  ennui  during  their 
evening's  discourse,  sombre  suspicion  enveloped 
the  King's  mind,  and  petulant  repinings  ensued. 
"  This  young  lady,"  relates  Tallemant,  "  wishing 
to  marry  and  secure  a  position,  suffered  the 
King's  attentions  impatiently.  She  was  very  hand- 
some ;  but  during  eight  days  the  King  agreed 
well  with  her,  and  during  a  subsequent  eight  days 


304  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1631- 

he  quarrelled  with  her."     Louis  vainly  tried  to 
detach  Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort  from  her  duty 
and  affection  for  the  Queen,  whom  Marie  reso- 
lutely supported.     He  forbade  her  to  accompany 
her  mistress  to  the  Carmelites  or  to  the  Val  de 
Grace  ;  but  as  this  injunction  was  never  officially 
communicated,  Marie  chose  to  treat  the  King's 
wishes  with  disregard.     She  likewise  showed  her- 
self impenetrable  to  the  overtures  of  the  Cardinal, 
and  frequently   spoke  in  derisive   terms   of  his 
designs,  while  she  dared  to  amuse  his  Majesty 
by  the  repetition  of  the  scandals  current  in  Paris 
respecting  certain  private  incidents  in  the  life  of 
the  great  minister.     A  cabal  in  the  household  was 
therefore  formed,  under  the  auspices  of  Richelieu, 
to  dethrone  a  personage  so  self-willed  and  dis- 
interested,  and  to  attempt  to  enlist  the   royal 
sympathies  for  Louise  de  la  Fayette,  another  of 
her  Majesty's  maidens,   who,   in  addition  to  a 
pretty  face,  was  an  accomplished  singer.      Ac- 
cordingly, the  Due  de  St.  Simon,  the  Bishop  of 
Limoges,  uncle  of  Mademoiselle  de  la  Fayette,  the 
Duke    d'Halluyn,33     Madame    de    Senece,    and 
Mesdemoiselles  d'Aiches,  de  Vieux-Pont,  and  de 
Polignac,  and  M.  Sanguin,  maitre  d'hotel  to  the 
King,  and  to  whom  Louis  showed  much  friendly 
regard,  united  in  lauding  the  perfections  of  la 
Fayette.     St.  Simon  and   the  Cardinal  feigned 
anger  and  vexation  at  the  impertinent  indepen- 
dence   displayed    by    la    Hautefort,    and    con- 
fidentially advised   the  King  to  punish  her  by 
appearing  to  transfer  the  honour  of  his  notice  to 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  305 

la  Fayette.34  The  King  approved,  and  promised 
to  follow  the  counsel  of  his  friends.  The  same 
evening  la  Fayette  was  desired  by  the  Cardinal  to 
take  her  harp  and  to  sing  a  song  composed  and 
set  to  music  by  his  Majesty.  The  delight  and 
astonishment  of  the  King  were  extreme,  the 
beautiful  voice  of  la  Fayette  had  never  before 
charmed  the  court-circle  during  his  dreary  and 
decorous  flirtation  with  la  Hautefort.  From  that 
evening  Louis  devoted  himself  to  la  Fayette.  The 
timid  blushing  girl,  brimful  of  sentiment  and  re- 
verence, proved  to  be  a  more  congenial  companion 
than  the  stately  and  imperturbable  la  Hautefort, 
who  had  condescended  to  listen  to  the  royal 
plaints  but  who  by  no  means  deemed  it  requisite 
to  sympathise  therein.  Louis  Angelique  Motier 
de  la  Fayette  was  the  only  daughter  of  Jean  de 
la  Fayette,  Seigneur  de  Hautefeuille,  and  of 
Marguerite  de  Bourbon  Busset,35  who  was  de- 
scended from  an  illegitimate  branch  of  Bourbon 
Montpensier.  Her  great  grandmother,  Suzanne 
de  Bourbon  Busset,  Madame  de  Miossin,  was  the 
faithful  friend  of  Queen  Jeanne  d'Albret,  and  the 
governess  of  Henri  Quatre.  In  family  influence, 
therefore,  Mademoiselle  de  la  Fayette  surpassed 
Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort.  Her  uncle  was  the 
Bishop  of  Limoges,  a  prelate  well  known  at  the 
court.  She  was  also  cousin-german  to  the  Mar- 
quise de  Senece,  lady-in-waiting  to  the  Queen  ; 
and  second  cousin  of  the  famous  Capuchin  Joseph 
de  Tremblay.  The  governess  of  the  Queen's 
maids,  Mademoiselle  de  Polignac,  was  also  a  near 


306  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [lew- 

relative.  With  such  connections  at  court — persons 
placed,  all  of  them,  in  influential  positions — it  has 
been  a  subject  of  wonder  that   the  sagacity  of 
Richelieu  did  not  rather  induce  him  to  withdraw 
from  the  notice  of  his  royal  master  a  lady  so 
powerfully  supported.     Mademoiselle  de  la  Fa- 
yette  is  described  as  possessed  of  many  personal 
attractions  :    she  was  a  brunette  with    shining 
eyes,  rather  embonpoint  in  figure,  without  much 
dignity  of  carriage,  shy  and   sedate  in  manner 
and    speech,    given    to    sentiment,    poetry    and 
meditation,  and    preferring    a    secluded   life    to 
courtly  gaieties.     She  had  also  been  destined  from 
her  early  youth  to  a  cloister  ;  her  father  was  poor 
and   proud,    and   despairing   of   finding   for   his 
daughter  an  alliance  suitable  co  her  birth  he  had 
encouraged  the  longings  of  the  pensive  girl  for 
seclusion.     In  her  seventeenth  year,  Louise  was 
presented  to  the  Queen  by  Madame  de  Senece, 
and  enrolled  amongst  Anne's  maids  of  honour.    It 
is  supposed    that    the  determination   of  Louise 
sooner  or  later  to  embrace  a  religious  life,  inspired 
her  with  that  indifference  to  censure  and  dis- 
regard of  worldly  interest  which  distinguished  her 
career.     Her  regard  for  the  King  soon  deepened 
into  the  purest  and  most    enthusiastic  attach- 
ment; she  entered  into  Louis'  fears  and  heart- 
quakings    at    the    power    of    his    minister,    she 
soothed   and  encouraged  him  while  maintaining 
inviolable  silence  on  all  that  he  confided  to  her 
ear,  she  interested  herself  as  far  as  might  be  in 
his  pastimes ;   and  above  all  she  sympathised  in 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  307 

his  resentment  against  Anne  of  Austria,  and  to 
please  the  King  confined  herself  to  the  merest 
routine  of  duty  in  her  relations  with  her  royal 
mistress.  The  interviews  between  Louis  and  la 
Fayette  were  generally  holden  in  the  little  cabinet 
opening  from  the  Queen's  state  reception-room  ; 
there  the  pair  met  to  weep  and  confer.  The 
utmost  decorum  prevailed  during  these  meetings  ; 
not  a  wanton  thought,  it  is  said,  ever  troubled  the 
serenity  of  the  King  or  brought  a  blush  to  the 
fair  cheek  of  his  confidente.  "  Le  Roi  Louis 
XIII."  said  the  sarcastic  Christina,  Queen  of 
Sweden,  "  rtaime  que  Vespece  en  femmes — il  est 
entoure  de  dames  d'une  sagesse  et  continence  re- 
connues  /  '  As  for  Louis,  la  Fayette  was  the  idol 
before  whom  he  offered  heart-felt  adoration : 
"  Angelique  etait  sa  joie  et  sa  couronne  /  '  If  a 
thought,  however,  arose  that  might  sully  her 
purity,  the  King,  it  is  stated,  summoned  his 
confessor  and  expiated  such  unholy  desire  by 
penance.  He  seems  to  have  devoutly  believed 
that  Providence  had  set  the  seal  of  election  on  the 
brow  of  Louise,  and  that  eventually  a  cloister 
would  shield  her  from  his  love  and  from  the 
world's  perils.  Meantime  it  was  his  duty  to 
respect  and  watch  vigilantly  that  no  alloy  of 
illicit  love  might  mar  the  merit  of  such  a  sacrifice. 
Notwithstanding  the  repute  which  Louis  le 
Chaste  had  obtained,  there  were  found  persons 
who  disbelieved  in  such  self-denial,  and  urged  the 
King  to  console  himself  for  the  indifference  and 
misconduct  of  Anne  of  Austria  by  following  the 


308  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1631- 

example  of  his  father.     These  counsels  at  length 
made  impression  on  the  King,  and  yielding  to 
the  temptation  he  one  day  abruptly  proposed  to 
Mademoiselle  de  la  Fayette  an  establishment  at 
Versailles  and  the  rank  of  a  duchess.    With  horror 
and  misgiving  la  Fayette  listened  to  the  King's 
solicitation,  and  so  edifying,  it  is  recorded,  were 
her  admonitions  that  Louis  consented  to  a  tempo- 
rary suspension  of  their  daily  interviews  to  expiate 
his  error.     "  It  was  to  la  Fayette  that  the  King 
confided  his  chagrins  relative  to  the  Cardinal  de 
Richelieu,"  relates  Madame  de  Motteville.  "  That 
girl  had  an  upright  heart,  and  though  she  was 
aware  that  this  confidence  would  probably  be 
fatal  to  her  interests,  she  kept  the  King's  secret, 
and  confirmed  him  in  his  aversion  to  the  minister  ; 
for  she  perceived  that  he  was  dishonoured  by  his 
compliance  with  the  will  of  the  Cardinal.     The 
said  Cardinal  did  all  in  his  power  to  gain  her  over 
to  his  side,  as  he  did  to  all  persons  possessing 
influence  with  the  King ;  but  la  Fayette  showed 
more  courage  than  those  courtiers  who  had  the 
mean  cowardice  to  carry  to  the  Cardinal  an  exact 
account  of  what  the  King  said  to  them.  A  woman 
showed  a  firmer  and  more  noble  spirit ;    but  la 
Fayette  had  courage  to  defy  the  turns  of  fortune, 
by  her  resolution  eventually  to  enter  a  cloister. 
The  King,  therefore,  discovering  that  she  was 
trustworthy,    virtuous  and    beautiful,    esteemed 
and  loved  her,  and  I  know  that  he  entertained 
thoughts  of  her  far  above  the  usual  feelings  of  men. 
The  same  prudence  which  induced  this  generous 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  309 

woman  to  refuse  alliance  with  the  Cardinal  de 
Richelieu  prompted  her  to  live  on  tolerable  terms 
with  the  Queen.     An  attachment  so  perfect  could 
not  fail  to  give  contentment  to  the  King  and  dis- 
pleasure to  the  Queen,   who,  however,  was  now 
accustomed  to  the  misfortune  of  not  being  beloved 
by  the  King  her  husband.     La  Fayette  confessed 
her  attachment  to  the  King,  and  as  they  loved 
each  as  the  other  desired,  their  bliss  ought  to  have 
insured  the  happiness  of  their  lives."      Richelieu, 
however,   saw  further  into  human  nature    than 
good    prosing  Madame    de    Motteville;   he   per- 
ceived that  he  had  every  evil  to  dread  from  the 
supremacy  of  la  Fayette.      The  King,  it  was  true, 
naively  betrayed  the  impressions  inspired  by  the 
observations  of  his  mistress  to  his  minister,  avow- 
ing them  to  be  such  ;    but  he  maintained   their 
propriety  and  justness  with   characteristic  obsti- 
nacy.    The  moment,  therefore,  that  la   Fayette 
ceased  to  resist  and  to  rebuke  the  inclinations  of 
the  King  her  ascendency  would  be  omnipotent, 
and  from  Versailles  she  might  dictate  the  edict  of 
his  dismissal  from  power.     As  yet  Mademoiselle 
de  la  Fayette  had   abstained  from  interfering  in 
political  matters.     "  La  Fayette  ne  fait  ni  bien,  ni 
mal"  was  the  report  hitherto  given  by  Chavigny 
to  the  Cardinal  de  la  Valette  and  others,  of  the 
doings  in  the  palace.     In  vain  Richelieu  tried  to 
neutralise  La  Fayette's  favour  by  the  same  artifice 
which  had  succeeded  for  the   downfall  of  Made- 
moiselle de  Hautefort.     Louis  would  not  look  at 
another    of   Anne's    maidens,    and    listened    in 


310  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1631- 

gloomy  silence  to  Richelieu's  laudation  of  any  one 
amongst  the  fair  bevy.     The  sole  avenue,  there- 
fore, likely  to  lead  to  the  overthrow  of  Made- 
moiselle de  la  Fayette's  influence  was  to  foment 
the  religious  scruples   of  the  pair,  and  to  daunt 
the  proud  heart  of  Louise  with  imaginary  dangers, 
even  by  inspiring  her  with  a    secret  conviction 
that  her  life  was  in  danger  and  therefore  that  a 
cloister  was  her  only  refuge.     The  system  of  spies, 
of  warning  intimations  and  the  bribery  by  which 
the    Cardinal    inaugurated    and    maintained   his 
power,  rendered  possible  a  conflict  such  as  he  now 
offered  to  la  Fayette.     The  popular  confessor  to 
the  ladies  and   courtiers  of  the  Louvre  was  le 
Pere  Jean  Baptiste  Carre,  Superior  of  the  order 
of   the    Dominicans  of  France ;    an  ecclesiastic 
devoted  to  Richelieu,  whom  he  worshipped  and 
obeyed  with  servile  zeal.     This  personage,  who 
was  considered  a  light  in  his  Order — being  a  man 
distinguished    by    learning,  eloquence,  ecclesias- 
tical  power   and   religious    zeal — took  yearly   a 
solemn    oath    of    obedience 36    to    the    Cardinal 
minister,  whom  he  regarded  as  the  incarnation  of 
human  power,  wisdom  and  benevolence.      Carre 
addressed  to  his  patron  long  memorials  on  public 
affairs,  written  with  consummate  skill ;   he  tran- 
smitted notes  describing  the  condition  of  public 
feeling  towards  the  minister  at  home  and  abroad, 
gathered  from  the  reports  of  the  foreign  monks  of 
his  order ;   he  placed  all  members  of  the  Domini- 
can community   in   France   at   the   disposal   of 
Richelieu,     while    his    judicious    counsels    and 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  311 

fervent  zeal  aided  the  minister  in  many  a  dark 
hour  of  uncertainty  and  doubt.  This  ecclesiastic, 
therefore,  was  confessor  to  the  court,  and  by 
him  much  service  might  be  achieved.  The  post 
of  confessor  to  the  King  and  Queen  was  a  privilege 
bestowed  by  Henri  Quatre  on  the  Jesuits,  and  at 
this  period,  the  commencement  of  the  year  1636, 
was,  fortunately  for  the  designs  of  Richelieu, 
vacant  by  the  dismissal  of  le  P.  Souffrant,  who 
had  followed  the  fortunes  of  Queen  Marie. 

Richelieu,  by  the  advice  of  his  own  confessor, 
counselled  Louis  to  confer  that  office  upon 
Nicholas  Caussin,  a  Jesuit  father  who  had 
obtained  high  repute  for  probity  and  virtue,  and 
who  was  the  author  of  a  book  of  religious  medi- 
tations, called  "  La  Cour  Sainte,"  very  much 
admired  by  pious  persons.  Intimation  of  his  pro- 
motion was  given  to  Caussin,  who  was  desired  by 
his  Eminence  to  wait  upon  the  King  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  Feast  of  the  Annunciation,  as  it  was  his 
Majesty's  purpose  to  confess  before  receiving 
the  Holy  Eucharist ;  but  previously  he  was 
instructed  to  visit  the  Cardinal  at  Ruel.  This 
mandate  was  conveyed  to  the  Jesuit  monastery 
by  a  young  page  greatly  favoured  by  the  Cardinal, 
the  young  Marquis  de  Cinq-Mars,  second  son  of  the 
Marshal  d'Effiat.  Caussin  repaired  to  Ruel  on  the 
23rd  of  March,  1636,  and  was  at  once  admitted  to 
private  audience  with  the  minister.  With  suave 
indifference  Richelieu  greeted  the  reverend  father, 
and  after  repeating  the  flattering  intimation  that 
the  King  contemplated  bestowing  upon  him  the 


812  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1631- 

much  coveted  post  of  confessor  in  ordinary,  pro- 
vided that  his  Majesty  received  satisfaction  from 
his  ministrations  on  the  morrow,  proceeded  to 
inform  Caussin,  "  that  the  King  was  a  noble 
prince  without  vice  whatever,  and  that  his 
virtue  being  a  benediction  to  the  realm,  it  was 
necessary  to  encourage  such  holy  inclinations.  It 
was  true  that,  unfortunately,  his  Majesty  had 
lately  appeared  much  attached  to  one  of  the 
Queen's  ladies,  although  he  suspected  nothing 
wrong  ;  *  nevertheless,  as  a  great  affection  between 
persons  of  opposite  sexes  was  dangerous,  it  would 
be  prudent  to  check  such  partialities."  37  The 
tone  of  the  Cardinal  was  careless,  but  his  manner 
significant.  Caussin,  therefore,  departed  initiated 
in  the  line  of  action  expected  from  him,  but  by 
no  means  disposed  to  implicit  submission.  The 
following  day,  Caussin  met  his  royal  penitent, 
whose  confession  fully  enlightened  him  on  the 
nature  of  his  liaison  with  Mademoiselle  de  la 
Fayette.  The  King  declared  himself  "  more  than 
content "  with  his  new  spiritual  director,  and 
signed  on  the  same  day  his  letters  of  office. 
Caussin  being,  a  few  days  subsequently  at  St. 
Germain — for  the  King's  confessor  had  apartments 
assigned  him  in  all  the  royal  palaces — M.  de 
Noyers,  chief  secretary  of  the  war  department, 
and  Richelieu's  confidential  friend,  paid  him  a 
visit  at  midnight,  and  said  "  that  he  had  been 
directed  by  M.  le  Cardinal  to  apprise  him  that  the 
young  lady  whom  his  Eminence  had  mentioned 
to  the  reverend  father  contemplated  leaving  the 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  313 

court  to  embrace  a  religious  life,  and  that  M.  le 
Cardinal  desired  he  should  examine  her  vocation 
and  induce  her  as  soon  as  possible  to  carry  such 
design  into  execution."  De  Noyers  enforced  pro- 
found secrecy  respecting  his  visit,  but  exhorted 
Caussin  to  carry  out  the  views  of  his  Eminence, 
whose  patriotic  and  disinterested  counsels  con- 
ferred prosperity  on  the  realm.38  It  was  subse- 
quently represented  to  Caussin  that  Queen  Anne 
beheld  the  ascendency  of  la  Fayette  with  extreme 
displeasure  and  disbelieved  in  the  innocence  of 
such  liaison  with  her  royal  consort,  and  that  the 
King  of  Spain,  who  was  devoted  to  his  sister,  was 
not  likely  to  be  conciliated  by  the  establishment 
of  a  maitresse  en  litre  at  the  Louvre.  It  was  true 
that  Anne  did  not  show  the  same  toleration 
towards  la  Fayette  as  she  had  manifested  towards 
Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort,  who  still  remained 
her  confidential  friend  and  often  shared  with 
her  royal  mistress  the  questionable  vigils  at  the 
Val  de  Grace.  De  Hautefort  hated  Richelieu, 
disapproved  the  conduct  of  the  King  towards  his 
wife,  and  did  all  in  her  power  to  reconcile  the  one 
and  to  overthrow  the  other.  La  Fayette  was  the 
enemy  of  Richelieu  only  so  far  as  such  enmity 
pleased  the  King,  who  needed  a  confidente  to 
whom  he  might  exhale  his  jealousy  and  occasional 
exasperation  against  his  minister.  She  sym- 
pathised with  and  admired  the  King,  and  felt  no 
regard  for  Anne  of  Austria  whose  intrigues  she 
declined  to  share.  Her  crime  in  Richelieu's  eyes 
was  her  independence  and  her  true  regard  for 


314  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1631- 

Louis,  which  made  him  apprehend  that  one  day 
the    restraints   interposed    by  virtue    and    piety 
might  be  cast  aside  for  ever,  and    that  France 
would  adore  in  Louise  Angelique  de  la  Fayette  a 
second  Gabrielle  d'Estrees.      Caussin,  the  director 
of  the  royal    conscience,  was,   meantime,   disin- 
clined to  follow  the  dictation  of  Richelieu.     His 
Order  was  jealous  of  the  Dominican  communities 
and  of  their  Superior,  Carre  ;    and   resented  the 
fact  that  Richelieu  had  not  chosen  a  Jesuit  monk 
for  his  own  confessor.     The  Jesuits,  moreover, 
strongly  protested  against   the  foreign  policy  of 
France.     The  alliance  between  France,  Gustavus 
Adolphus  King  of  Sweden,  the   deposed  Elector 
Palatine  and  the  German  Protestant  Princes,  was 
abhorrent  to  their  principles  and  hostile  to  their 
interests.     They    sympathised    with    the    exiled 
Queen-mother  and  desired  her  recall,   they  ap- 
proved  of   the    marriage   of    M.   d'Orleans    and 
blamed  the  minister    for  his  persecution  of  the 
heir-presumptive.     The     enmity     displayed    by 
Richelieu  towards  le  P.  Chanteloube,  at  one  time 
confessor  to  Queen  Marie    de'  Medici,  who  had 
taken  refuge  in  Brussels   to  escape  the  Bastille, 
added   another   item   to    the   list   of   grievances 
against   the    Cardinal.      In   Mademoiselle    de   la 
Fayette,  therefore,  Caussin  and  his  Order  descried 
the  antidote  to  the  heretical   policy    of   France, 
and  a  source  by  which  peace  with  Spain  and  the 
Empire  might  be  achieved.     The  Queen's  house- 
hold was  a  very  focus  of  intrigue,  every  person 
appertaining    thereto    adhered    to    one     of    the 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  315 

factions  of  the  Queen,  the  Cardinal  or  la  Fayette. 
Mademoiselle  de  Polignac,  governess  of  the  maids, 
the  Due  de  St.  Simon,  Madame  de  la  Flotte, 
dame  (Tatours,  Mademoiselle  de  Chemerault, 
Mademoiselle  de  Filandre,  head-dresser  to  her 
majesty,  Sanguin,  chief  maitre  d' hotel  and  others, 
were  the  hidden  spies  of  Richelieu,  who  held 
in  his  pay  even  the  very  scullions  of  the  royal 
kitchen. 

The  Queen  herself  was  hostile  to  la  Fayette,  and 
desired  her  exile  from  court ;    though,  since  the 
marriage  of  Monsieur,  a  marked  change  had  come 
over  her  Majesty,  who  seemed  now  to  be  less  the 
opponent    of    Richelieu    personally,    but    rather 
disaffected  on  account  of  his  warlike  designs  upon 
her  brother,  Don  Philip  of  Spain.     Madame  de 
Senece  and  the  Bishop  of  Limoges  befriended  la 
Fayette,  and  did  all  in  their  power  to  induce  her 
to  relinquish  her  monastic  resolves  and  to  accept 
the  position  of  state  and  influence  opening  to  her. 
The  King  was  in  the  habit  of  sending  his  written 
communications  to  Mademoiselle  de  la  Fayette  by 
one  Boiszenval,  his  first  valet  de  chambre.     This 
Boiszenval  had  been  raised  from  the  subordinate 
service  of  a  valet  de  garde  robe  by  the  favour  of 
Louise,  who  had  obtained  for  him  promotion,  in 
the  hope  of  securing  one  faithful  attendant  not 
seduced  by  the  benefits  of  M.  le  Ministre.     Riche- 
lieu, however,  soon  contrived  to  lure  Boiszenval 
from  his  allegiance  to  a  lady  whom  the  Cardinal 
assured  him  was  on  the  eve  of  withdrawing  from 
the  world,  and  whose  favour  could  be  but  tern- 


316  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [iesi- 

porarily  exerted  in  his  behalf.  Partly  intimidated 
by  the  half-uttered  threat  of  the  minister,  and 
partly  prompted  by  self-interested  motives,  Bois- 
zenval  sold  himself  to  the  Cardinal.  Whenever, 
therefore,  he  was  intrusted  with  a  note  by  the 
King  to  carry  to  la  Fayette,  Boiszenval  took 
it  straight  to  Richelieu,  who  first  perused  and 
then,  by  the  aid  of  his  experts  in  imitating  hand- 
writing, caused  the  letters  to  be  copied  again, 
altering  any  profession  or  statement  therein  which 
displeased  him.39  The  same  method  he  pursued 
with  regard  to  verbal  messages  interchanged 
between  the  lovers,  which  the  Cardinal  suppressed 
altogether  or  moulded  to  suit  his  purpose.  For 
some  little  time  this  duplicity  succeeded,  until  one 
day  Boiszenval,  with  unparalleled  insolence,  said 
to  Mademoiselle  de  la  Fayette,  on  presenting  her 
with  a  billet  from  the  King,  "  If  you  are  sincere, 
Madame,  in  your  design  to  become  a  nun,  do  so 
without  delay,  this  probation  is  too  tantalising 
to  his  Majesty  !  "  Such  words  naturally  roused 
suspicion,  and  upon  comparing  notes  the  King 
and  la  Fayette  discovered  how  they  had  been 
deceived. 

A  few  days  subsequently  Louis  suddenly 
addressed  Boiszenval,  who  was  performing  his 
functions  at  the  lever  of  his  Majesty,  when  the 
royal  chamber  was  crowded  with  courtiers. 
"  Boiszenval,"  said  the  King,  "  I  have  discovered 
that  you  are  a  consummate  traitor.  I  therefore 
dismiss  you.  Go  !  Never  presume  to  present 
yourself  in  my  presence  again." 40  Boiszenval 


16371  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  317 

retired,  his  patron  the  Cardinal  dared  not  in- 
terfere, or  perhaps  deemed  it  more  politic  not  to 
interpose  when  Louis  was  roused  into  so  unusual 
an  exercise  of  decision.  Meantime  Caussin  took 
every  opportunity  to  ingratiate  himself  with 
Mademoiselle  de  la  Fayette,  and  one  day  when 
the  Queen  was  leaving  the  chapel  at  St.  Germain, 
she  approached  him  timidly  saying,  "  Reverend 
Father,  I  wish  if  possible  to  speak  with  you." 
Caussin  excused  himself  from  an  immediate  in- 
terview and  fixed  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  for 
the  conference.  During  the  interval  he  saw  the 
King  and  asked  his  Majesty's  permission  to  confer 
with  a  lady  of  the  household  whose  name  he  pre- 
tended not  to  know.  "  Ah  !  "  said  his  Majesty, 
"  it  was  la  Fayette.  She  wishes  to  consult  you 
on  the  design  she  has  long  entertained  of  going 
into  a  nunnery.  Yes,  I  consent  to  the  con- 
ference." 

Caussin  therefore  held  a  long  consultation 
with  Mademoiselle  de  la  Fayette  in  the  presence 
of  Mademoiselle  de  Polignac,  who  having  been 
secretly  bribed  by  Richelieu  took  notes  of  the 
conference  which  ensued.  La  Fayette  then  said 
that  she  was  resolved  to  enter  a  nunnery,  that 
God  called  her  to  that  vocation,  that  she  prayed 
the  reverend  father  to  dispose  the  mind  of 
the  King  to  permit  her  retreat,  that  she  was 
miserable  and  had  scruples  on  her  liaison  with 
the  King,  and  was  wearied  with  the  envy  and 
hate  of  malignant  personages.  Caussin  there- 
upon represented  the  privations  and  hardships, 


318  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1631- 

of  a  nun,  and  asked  the  pertinent  question 
"  whether  she  had  a  true  call  and  was  not  lured 
thereto  by  wordly  chagrin  and  by  the  representa- 
tions of  interested  personages  ?  "  La  Fayette 
replied  with  tears,  "  that  in  her  early  youth  a 
religious  life  had  been  her  election,  that  she 
wished  now  to  enter  as  a  novice  the  Convent  of  La 
Visitation  des  Filles  de  Ste  Marie,  that  she 
should  quit  the  world  without  bitterness  or 
regret,  and  that  she  requested  the  reverend 
father  to  broach  the  subject  to  the  King,  which 
was  the  object  of  the  interview  which  she  had 
requested."  41  Caussin  therefore  honestly  per- 
formed the  task  imposed  upon  him.  Louis  heard 
him  in  gloomy  despair.  "  Although,"  replied  his 
Majesty,  "  I  regret  and  deplore  her  decision  yet  I 
dare  not  hinder  her  vocation.  Nevertheless,  tell 
her  to  wait  until  my  departure  to  join  my  army. 
Meantime  consult  Madame  de  Senece  on  the 
subject — I  leave  all  to  her." 

Madame  de  Senece,  when  appealed  to  by 
Caussin,  as  the  King  doubtless  anticipated,  abso- 
lutely refused  her  assent  to  the  project,  and 
insisted  that  letters  should  be  despatched  to  the 
father  and  mother  of  la  Fayette,  Monsieur  and 
Madame  de  Hautefeuille,  who  alone  she  averred 
could  grant  the  desired  permission.  The  answer 
was  many  months  in  arriving,  the  jealous  agonies 
of  the  Cardinal  became  intense,  and  he  bitterly 
reproached  Caussin  for  his  lukewarm  zeal.  "  I 
feared  to  render  myself  obnoxious  and  so  to 
defeat  my  purpose  by  a  show  of  too  much  zeal," 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  319 

answered  the  discreet  Jesuit.  Richelieu  turned 
away  with  a  wrathful  gesture,  and  forthwith 
charged  le  Pere  Carre  to  examine  and  report  on 
the  condition  of  la  Fayette's  mind,  and  to  in- 
sinuate himself  if  possible  into  her  confidence.42 
The  subterfuge  failed  :  Louise  made  one  con- 
fession to  Carre  and  then  refused  to  open  her  mind 
further  to  the  stern  Dominican,  who  if  he  failed 
in  obtaining  her  confidence,  at  any  rate  served  the 
Cardinal's  purpose  by  maintaining  through  other 
ladies  of  the  palace,  his  penitents,  the  most  rigid 
surveillance  over  her  conduct.  The  curious  letters 
of  Carre  addressed  to  the  Cardinal  still  exist  in  the 
French  Foreign  Office — every  little  incident,  every 
insignificant  remark,  every  vacillation  of  mind 
relating  to  the  poor  girl  whom  it  was  Richelieu's 
purpose  to  coerce  were  there  recorded.  Carre  at 
the  beginning  of  the  year  1636  writes  to  his 
patron  : 43  "I  address  your  Eminence  in  much 
depression  on  account  of  the  danger  which  besets 
the  vocation  of  Mademoiselle  de  la  Fayette.  M. 
de  Limoges,  Madame  de  Senece  and  M.  le  Cheva- 
lier de  la  Fayette,  uncle  of  the  said  lady,  came  to 
call  upon  me  this  morning  between  the  hours  of 
nine  and  ten  o'clock.  All  three  attacked  me 
furiously — M.  de  Limoges  44  by  angry  argument 
and  abuse,  Madame  de  Senece  by  bitter  reproaches 
and  M.  le  Chevalier  by  atrocious  insinuations 
— all  because  they  said  that  I  had  plotted  and 
negotiated  the  retreat  of  their  niece  into  a  con- 
vent. They  asked  me  why  I  so  acted,  and  why 
I  had  not  consulted  them  ?  I  replied  that  my 


320  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [lew- 

conscience  forbade  me  to  take  counsel  of  persons 
interested,  as  they  were,  in  the  result ;  upon 
which  they  poured  more  abuse  on  my  head,  and 
gave  me  a  formal  interdiction,  as  they  said,  on 
behalf  of  the  Queen  not  to  meddle  with  the  con- 
science of  a  lady  of  her  household  ;  and  forbade 
me,  on  their  own  responsibility,  to  interfere  with 
their  niece.  So  behold  me,  Monseigneur,  in 
despair  at  being  quite  powerless  to  forward  the 
good  work  unless  your  Eminence  assists  me!" 
Carre  goes  on  to  relate  that  he  had  called  upon  the 
abbess  of  Ste  Marie,  who  promised  to  receive  the 
young  postulant  upon  the  responsibility  of  Carre 
alone.  In  the  evening  Carre  accidentally  ex- 
changed a  few  words  with  la  Fayette,  and  exhorted 
her  to  retire  without  further  parley  and  to  ad- 
dress letters  of  farewell  from  the  convent  to  the 
King,  to  the  Cardinal  and  to  her  own  relatives  ; 
also,  if  she  so  desired,  to  the  Queen.  Mademoiselle 
de  la  Fayette  then  remarked,  "  that  was  un- 
necessary, as  the  Queen  would  rejoice  at  her 
retreat."  The  following  month  la  petite  was  still 
at  court,  and  threw  fresh  alarm  into  the  mind  of 
Richelieu's  zealous  agent — who  was  regarded  as 
the  most  holy  and  devoted  of  men — by  stopping 
the  reverend  father,  whom  she  encountered  in  the 
apartment  of  Madame  de  la  Flotte,  to  inform  him 
"  that  her  relatives  and  the  King  forbade  her 
retreat,  and  threatened  if  she  entered  a  convent 
to  take  her  thence  by  edict  of  Parliament  as 
being  under  age."  "  I  replied,"  writes  Carre, 
"  that  she  need  be  under  no  apprehension,  for 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  321 

that  your  Eminence  would  protect  her.  I  then 
asked  her  what  her  own  wishes  were  ?  She  re- 
plied in  a  labyrinth  of  words,  '  that  in  a  few  years 
she  might  feel  better  assured  of  her  vocation.' 
I  said  that  two  supreme  reasons  induced  me 
earnestly  to  desire  her  immediate  retreat,  the 
first  was  the  salvation  of  her  soul,  the  second 
the  welfare  of  Christendom  by  the  conclusion  of 
peace,  which  good  work  the  reverend  General  of 
our  order  commanded  me  to  forward,  but  that  it 
was  not  probable  that  the  King  of  Spain  would 
consent  to  lay  down  arms  while  he  knew  that  our 
holy  and  good  King  loved  any  other  woman 
except  his  wife,  sister  of  his  Catholic  Majesty, 
although  he  might  be  aware  of  the  purity  and 
innocency  of  such  attachment.  It  was  my 
opinion  therefore  that  all  conscientious  persons 
should  contribute  toward  so  merciful  an  object." 46 
Another  day  Carre  writes  to  the  Cardinal  to  in- 
form him  that  Mademoiselle  Thomassin  46  told 
him  that  la  Fayette  was  suffering  from  agonies  of 
indecision  ;  that  she  feared  the  King's  passion 
and  shuddered  at  the  thought  of  involving  his 
Majesty  in  mortal  sin  ;  that  she  dreaded  the  re- 
sentment of  the  Cardinal,  and  even  feared  that 
some  personal  catastrophe  would  befall  her — in- 
deed every  little  vexatious  incident  was  now  in- 
terpreted by  la  petite  as  a  sign  of  Divine  wrath  at 
her  indecision  ; — "  for  instance  this  morning  la 
Fayette  came  into  my  apartment,"  said  Thom- 
assin, "  and  said  that  God  drew  her  towards  a 
religious  life  by  inflicting  upon  her  countless 


322  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1631- 

little  mortifications  ;  she  then  showed  me  a  little 
pimple  which  had  appeared  on  her  right  cheek 
during  the  night,  '  a  sign,'  she  said,  '  that  God  is 
displeased  at  my  delay.'  " 47  Richelieu  caused  it 
to  be  intimated  to  la  Fayette  that  she  should  be- 
come a  benefactress  to  any  convent  she  might 
select  by  presenting  the  community  with  30,000 
francs.  Never  was  there  a  more  zealous  exponent 
than  Carre  of  the  minister's  wishes  :  the  more 
difficult  the  enterprise  the  more  important  did  it 
appear  to  Richelieu  to  separate  Louis  from  his 
mistress. 

Caussin,  meantime,  prompted  by  the  wishes  of 
the  King  if  not  by  his  direct  commands,  did  all  in 
his  power  to  induce  la  Fayette  to  delay  the  com- 
mencement of  her  noviciate.  He  represented  to 
her  in  glowing  language  the  hardships  to  which 
she  was  desirous  to  submit.  Even  when  she  had 
taken  her  final  resolution  to  abandon  the  thorny 
path  of  intrigue  and  of  a  vain  wrestling  with  the 
inexorable  mind  which  rules  France,  Caussin's 
earnest  counsel  followed  her  :  "  What  !  will  you 
quit  the  court,  a  King  who  esteems  you,  and  bril- 
liant prospects,  to  take  the  veil  and  bury  yourself 
between  four  walls  !  There  are  only  too  many  un- 
happy women  who  have  thrown  themselves  into 
convents  without  due  reflection,  and  will  you 
Madame  increase  the  number  ?  You  do  not  know 
what  it  is  to  relinquish  your  judgment,  to  abandon 
your  will,  and  to  live  by  and  at  the  dictation  of 
strangers  who  will  not  permit  you  to  dispose  of  a 
pin  without  their  sanction  !  You  have  been  as  a 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  323 

bird  of  paradise  at  court,  fed  with  amber  and 
cinnamon,  you  have  heard  nothing  but  praise, 
compliments  and  adulation.  Greatly  amazed 
therefore  will  you  feel  when  a  heavy  cross  is  laid 
on  your  shoulders  and  you  are  hurried  up  the 
steep  path  to  Calvary.  If  you  were  an  old  woman 
desirous  to  give  your  last  days  to  penitent  repen- 
tance no  one  would  feel  surprise  at  your  resolve, 
but  for  a  young  girl  of  seventeen  years  old,  good 
and  innocent,  to  fly  from  a  King  to  entomb  her- 
self in  a  prison  surpasses  belief  !  The  conversa- 
tion of  the  King,  has  it  ever  offended  you  and 
evoked  scruples  ?  Are  you  not  pure  as  when  you 
first  attracted  his  regard  ?  You  know  his  Majesty 
too  well  to  feel  apprehensive  that  he  will  ever  ask 
from  you  anything  which  the  law  of  God  forbids 
you  to  grant.  I  advise  you,  therefore,  stay  with 
the  King  and  do  all  the  good  you  can  through 
him,  as  God  has  been  pleased  to  endow  you  with 
such  power  over  his  Majesty's  mind."  48  Dis- 
tracted thus  by  opposite  counsels,  Mademoiselle 
de  la  Fayette  fell  ill  under  the  conflict ;  grave 
scruples  of  conscience  tormented  her,  but  though 
she  pitied  and  admired  Louis  XIII.  she  had  no 
confidence  in  his  faithful  support.  She  knew  that 
the  King  could  hide  nothing  from  his  minister, 
and  that  their  most  secret  confidences  he  often 
disclosed,  especially  if  she  had  in  any  respect 
assailed  the  policy  or  the  character  of  Richelieu. 
It  was  a  point  of  honour  and  habit  with  the  King 
to  repeat  to  Richelieu  every  inimical  speech.  La 
Fayette  could  never  be  sure  that  the  King  would 


324  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [IOTI- 

not  denounce,  and  then  retire  with  her  to  weep 
and  bewail  Richelieu's  tyranny  !  "  Louis  XIII.," 
said  le  Pere  Caussin,  "  refrains  from  expressing 
all  he  feels,  he  does  not  all  that  he  wills  and 
wills  not  all  that  he  can  !  "  But  with  support  so 
precarious  la  Fayette  might  \vell  shrink  from 
continuing  to  brave  the  hostility  of  the  minister 
against  which  not  one  of  the  Bang's  near  kindred 
could  prevail. 

In  the  early  part  of  May  1637,  Mademoiselle  de 
la  Fayette,  therefore,  took  her  final  resolve.  One 
morning  when  the  court  was  at  St.  Germain,  she 
presented  herself  before  the  King  and  asked  his 
permission  to  make  an  excursion  to  Paris  to  see 
the  abbess  of  the  Visitandines,  of  the  Rue  St. 
Antoine.  Louis  wept  but  consented,  laying,  how- 
ever, strict  commands  that  she  should  return  to 
St.  Germain  by  a  given  hour.  Accompanied  by 
Madame  de  Senece,  Mademoiselle  de  la  Fayette 
had  an  interview  with  the  abbess,  who  agreed  to 
receive  her  as  a  novice  at  any  moment.  No  further 
opposition  was  encountered  from  Madame  de 
Senece,  who  had  been  silenced  by  a  threat  con- 
veyed to  her  by  Carre,49  "that  if  she  sought  again 
to  dissuade  Mademoiselle  de  la  Fayette  from  the 
resolve  which  it  had  taken  so  long  to  render  active 
her  own  exile  from  court  would  ensue."  The 
evident  displeasure  and  impatience  of  Queen 
Anne,  moreover,  had  due  weight  with  her  lady  of 
honour,  and  so  la  Fayette  was  sacrificed  to  ex- 
pediency and  to  the  will  of  the  Cardinal.  To  the 
reluctant  Caussin  was  entrusted  the  mission  of 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  325 

obtaining  the  final  assent  of  King  Louis.  "  It  is 
true,"  said  the  King,  "  that  she  is  very  dear  to  me. 
God  help  me  !  but  if  a  religious  life  is  her  vocation, 
let  her  depart !  I  consent."  The  same  evening 
la  Fayette  appeared  for  the  last  time  in  the  royal 
circle.  Louis  drew  her  apart  and  conversed  for 
some  time,  everybody  present  remarking  on  the 
extreme  pallor  of  the  King.  In  the  presence  of  the 
court  she  then  thanked  the  King  for  his  permis- 
sion, which  enabled  her  to  "  fulfil  the  dearest  wish 
of  her  life."  "  Go,  Madame,"  replied  Louis, 
scarcely  master  of  his  emotion.  "  God  calls  you  : 
it  is  not  for  man  to  oppose  His  will.  My  authority 
would  have  sufficed  to  assure  your  continued 
residence  here  for  I  could  have  forbidden  every 
abbess  in  the  realm  to  receive  you  !  Nevertheless, 
I  appreciate  the  excellency  and  privilege  of  so  holy 
a  life,  and  in  my  last  hour  God  forbid  that  my 
conscience  should  be  burdened  with  the  thought 
that  I  had  deprived  you  of  so  precious  a  voca- 
tion !  "  Louise  then  said  farewell  to  her  royal 
mistress — "  qui  ne  la  pouvait  aimer."  Anne  coldly 
smiled.50  "  The  only  bitterness  of  departure," 
exclaimed  Louise  afterwards,  "  is  the  joy  and 
triumph  of  my  enemies !  "  La  Fayette  then 
retired  to  the  apartment  of  the  Countess  de 
Fleix,  daughter  of  Madame  de  Senece.  A  fit  of 
hysterical  weeping  relieved  her  overstrained  feel- 
ings, during  which  the  coach  of  the  King  drew  up 
under  the  archway  of  the  [quadrangle  ;  for  Louis, 
in  bitter  affliction,  insisted  on  leaving  St.  Germain 
for  a  retirement  of  some  days  at  Versailles. 


326  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1681- 

"  Alas,  alas  !  I  shall  never  see  him  again  !  " 
exclaimed  Mademoiselle  de  la  Fayette,  as  she 
watched  the  departure  by  torchlight  of  the 
cortege.  At  dawn  Louise,  attended  by  Madame  de 
Senece  and  by  three  of  the  Queen's  maidens,  de- 
parted for  the  Convent  of  the  Visitation,  Rue  St. 
Antoine,  and  was  received  with  great  honour 
and  parade  by  the  abbess,  who  was  a  Seguier  and 
niece  of  the  new  Lord-Keeper  of  the  Seals  and  of 
the  Bishop  of  Meaux.51 

The  King,  meantime,  on  his  arrival  at  Ver- 
sailles, took  to  his  bed  and  refused  during  two 
days  to  grant  audiences.  On  the  third  day  it  was 
suggested  by  M.  de  St.  Simon,  "  that  his  Majesty 
need  not  longer  deprive  himself  of  the  pleasure  of 
seeing  Mademoiselle  de  la  Fayette  as  all  the  con- 
vents opened  their  portals  to  the  King  of  France." 
Louis  rose  eagerly  and  with  his  own  hand  wrote 
to  the  abbess  of  the  Visitandines  that  he  should 
visit  the  convent  on  the  morrow  to  have  an  inter- 
view with  Mademoiselle  de  la  Fayette.  On  the 
arrival  of  his  Majesty  he  encountered  to  his  sur- 
prise M.  de  Noyers,  the  confidential  friend  of  the 
minister.  The  King  sharply  inquired  his  busi- 
ness, and  was  informed  that  M.  de  Noyers  had 
been  commissioned  to  confer  with  the  abbess  on 
the  payment  of  the  dowry  of  the  novice.  Louis 
was  then  solaced  by  the  sight  of  la  Fayette,  with 
whom  he  conversed  for  three  hours  in  the  convent 
parloir  while  his  suite  waited  without  the  gate. 
"  He  was  so  moved  by  the  description  given  him 
by  la  Fayette  of  the  joys  and  peace  of  the  monastic 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  327 

state  that  his  Majesty  afterwards  confessed  to 
le  Pere  Caussin,  that  but  for  his  duty  to  his  realm 
he  would  willingly  follow  her  example."  This 
interview  was  followed  by  many  more  during  the 
next  two  months,  before  the  departure  of  the 
King  for  his  camp  in  Picardy.  "  La  cabale  de 
Mademoiselle  de  la  Fayette  subsiste  toujours !  ' 
was  the  mournful  comment  of  Chavigny  to  the 
Cardinal  de  la  Valette,  generalissimo  of  the  army 
in  Italy.  From  her  retreat  Louise  dared  to  speak 
openly  to  the  King  on  politics,  and  pathetically 
deplored  "  those  great  crimes,"  as  she  termed 
them,  of  his  reign — the  exile  of  the  Queen-mother, 
and  the  alliance  of  France  with  the  Protestants  of 
Germany,  against  the  orthodox  and  Catholic 
monarchs  of  Austria  and  Spain.  She  described 
Richelieu  as  a  man,  unscrupulous  and  relentless 
in  his  hatred,  unmeasured  in  his  ambition,  and 
who,  sooner  or  later,  must,  from  motives  of  self- 
interest  and  the  lust  of  power,  separate  his  lot 
from  that  of  the  childless  King  and  join  the 
faction  of  the  heir-presumptive.  She  made  touch- 
ing allusion  to  the  fragility  of  the  health  of  the 
King,  which  at  any  moment  might  fail ;  and  she 
implored  him  to  listen  to  the  enlightened  counsel 
of  le  Pere  Caussin,  his  spiritual  director  and  a 
personage  also  of  great  political  savoir.  In  the 
privacy  of  the  confessional  Louis  was  assailed 
by  the  same  entreaties.  The  sombre  and  even 
menacing  aspect  of  the  King,  meanwhile,  greatly 
disturbed  the  Cardinal,  he  therefore  summoned 
Caussin,  and  asked  upon  what  the  interviews 


328  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1631- 

between  the  King  and  la  Fayette  turned,  as  every 
one  was  surprised  to  see  a  great  King  interest 
himself  in  the  fate  and  caprices  of  an  insignificant 
little  girl.  Caussin  skilfully  dissembled,  but  said 
that  the  King  was  disquieted  by  reports  that  his 
Eminence  intended  to  cause  Mademoiselle  de  la 
Fayette  to  be  carried  off  secretly  and  immured 
in  a  dismal  house — an  offshoot  of  the  Visitandines 
of  Paris,  situated  in  the  wilds  of  Auvergne.  "  Ah, 
Monsieur,"  continued  Caussin,  "  cease  to  trouble 
yourself  about  this  petite  demoiselle.  What  can 
you  fear  ?  Mademoiselle  de  la  Fayette  is  only  a 
child."  "  Doucement,  monpere"  retorted  Richelieu, 
ironically  ;  "  you  are  simple,  if  not  evil-minded,  I 
perceive  !  Let  me  enlighten  you  and  expose  the 
malice  of  the  world.  Know  that  this  child  as  you 
term  her  has  been  near  overthrowing  all.52  Let 
her  take  the  veil  and  occupy  herself  with  her 
breviary.  The  King  complains  that  she  has 
entered  a  nunnery  :  it  is  her  own  fault.  Have 
you  not  often  told  me  that  she  complained  of  his 
Majesty's  eccentric  and  unequal  temper,  and 
that  the  fear  of  sudden  disgrace  made  her  take 
the  resolve  to  profess  ?  ?:  Richelieu  then,  accord- 
ing to  the  relation  of  Caussin  himself,  proposed  a 
strict  alliance,  averring  that  all  other  confessors 
of  the  King  had  lived  in  confidential  intercourse 
with  him,  and  that  if  Caussin  would  support 
on  all  occasions  his  policy  he  might  command 
any  favour  for  himself,  for  his  order,  or  for  his 
kinsmen.  The  wily  Jesuit  made  cautious  reply  to 
these  overtures,  but  the  cold  indifference  of 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  329 

Caussin's  manner  convinced  his  Eminence  that 
his  sophistry  had  then  failed  to  gain  so  important 
an  ally  as  the  director  of  the  conscience  of  King 
Louis. 

NOTES  ON  CHAPTER  SIX 

1  "  Le  Cardinal  lui  fit  dire  par  Madame  de  Fargis,  dame  d'atours,  que 
si  elle  voulait,  il  la  tireroit  bientot  de  la  misere  dans  laquelle  elle  vivoit. 
La  reine  alors,  qui  ne  croyoit  point  que  ce  fut  lui  qui  la  fit  maltraiter, 
pensa  d'abord  que  ce  fut  par  compassion  qu'il  lui  offrit  son  assistance, 
souffrit  qu'il  lui  ecrivit  et  lui  fit  memo  reponse  ;  car  elle  ne  s'imagincit 
point  que  ce  commerce  produisit  autre  chose  qu'une  simple  galanterie. ' 
— Tallemant. 

2  Journal  de  Richelieu.    "  L'ambassadeur  m'a  dit  que  j'y  devois  aller 
librement  quand  le  roy  y  etoit,  ou  n'y  etoit  pas,  luy  dire  un  mot  de  ce 
qu'elle  devoit  faire,  tantot  la  divertir  de  ce  qu'on  jugeroit  a  propos  ;  quo 
je  luy  ferois  plaisir  d'en  user  ainsi." 

3  Heir  of  La  Rochefoucauld,  and  afterwards  the  celebrated  duke  of  that 
name,  author  of  "  The  Maxims." 

4  Monglat  states  that  Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort  exclaimed,  "  Prenez- 
la  (la  lettre)  tant  que  vous  voudrez  a  cette  heure  !  " — Cousin,  Vie  de 
Madame  de  Hautefort. 

5  "  Le  roi  prit  des  pincettes  d'argent  qui  etaient  aupres  du  feu  pour 
essayer  s'il  pouvait  avoir  ce  billet  avec  les  pincettes  :   mais  elle  1'avait 
mis  trop  avant,  et  ainsi  la  reine  la  laissa  aller,  apres  s'etre  bien  divertie 
de  la  peur  de  Madame  de  Hautefort,  et  de  celle  du  roi." — Vie  de  Madame 
de  Hautefort. — Cousin,  quoted  from  la  Vie  MS. 

6  Vie  de  Madame  de  Hautefort. — Cousin,  quoted  from  la  Vie  MS. 

7  Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort  was  known  at  court  by  the  sobriquet  of 
"  Sainte  Hautefort." 

8  When  the  Queen  Marie  de'  Medici  heard  of  the  return  to  Paris  of 
Madame  de  Chevreuse,  she  exclaimed,  "  He  bien,  elle  retourne  apres 
cinq  ans  de  banissement ;  et  avoir  ete  en  divers  lieux.   Le  Cardinal  ne 
sauroit  avoir  pense,  n'y  faire  la  moindre  action  que  je  ne  sache  a  quoi 
elle  tend." — Aubery,  Mem.  pour  1'Hist.  du  Card,  de  Richelieu,  t.  2. 

9  La  Grande  Mademoiselle  Anne  Louise  d'Orleans,  daughter  of  Monsieur 
and  of  Marie,  Duchess  de  Montpensier. — Mem.,  t.  i. 

10  Marie  de  Vertus  dite  de  Bretagne,  daughter  of  Claude  de  Bretagne, 
Count  de  Vertus,  and  of  Catherine  Fouquet.    She  married,  in   1628, 
Hercules  de  Rohan,  Duke  de  Montbazon,  father  of  the  Duchess  de 
Chevreuse.    Marie  was  quite  a  child  when  she  married  the  Duke,  who 
took  her  from  a  convent,  where  she  was  destined  to  make  profession. 
The  Duke  de  Montbazon,  therefore,  always  called  her  "  Ma  rdigieuse." 
Madame  de  Montbazon  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful  women  of  the 


330  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1631- 

court,  and  one  of  the  most  intrigante,  and  masculine  in  mind.  She  died 
in  1657,  aged  45. 

11  Anne  de  Rohan,  wife  of  M.  de  Guemene,  eldest  son  of  the  Duke  de 
Montbazon,  and  brother  of  Madame  de  Chevreuse. 

12  "  Ou  il  y  avait  six  poupees,  une  femme  en  couches,  une  nourrice, 
quasi  au  naturel,  un  enfant,  une  garde,  une  sage-femme,  et  la  grand'- 
maman.  Mesdemoiselles  de  Rambouillet  et  de  Bouteville  jouaient  avec 
elle,  deshabillaient  et  couchaient  tous  les  jours  ces  poupees,  etc." — 
Tallemant,  Hist,  du  Card,  de  Richelieu. 

13  Marguerite  de  Lorraine  Vaudemont,  daughter  of  Francois,  Count  de 
Vaudemont,  and  of  Franijoise  de  Salms.   Her  father  was  the  brother  of 
Henri,  Due   de    Lorraine,  and  father  of  Duke  Charles  IV.,  Duke  of 
Lorraine  in  right  of  his  wife  Nicole. 

14  Montmorency  had  asked  for  the  sword  of  Constable,  and  for  the 
government  of  the  citadel  of  Montpellier,  which  were  refused  to  his 
solicitations :    "  On  n'avait  garde  de  rendre  le  Due  plus  puissant  en 
Languedoc."     The  Duke  had  a  trifling  quarrel  with  the  Duke  de 
Chevreuse,  which  had  incurred  the  resentment  and  bad  offices  of 
Madame  de  Chevreuse. — Vie  du  Due  de  Montmorency — Galerie  des 
Personnages  Illustres.  The  Duke  proposed  to  the  States  of  the  province 
to  vote  a  supply  for  the  King's  service,  which  he  intended  to  divert  to 
the  purposes  of  the  revolt,  as  Montmorency  himself  allows  in  a  letter  to 
Monsieur  :   "  On  saisira  les  secours  d'argent  qu'ils  doivent  accorder  au 
Roi  pour  le  service  de  Monsieur." — Mem.  du  Due  de  Montmorency : 
Paris,  1665. 

15  Brother  of  the  first  Due  d'Epernon,  a  prelate  whose  theological 
attainments  were  far  inferior  to  his  military  acquirements.  For  details 
of  the  trial  and  execution  of  Montmorency,  see  Vie  du  Due  de  Mont- 
morency, Paris,  1665  ;  Galerie  des  Personnages  Illustres  de  la  Cour  de 
Louis  XIII.,  t.  4 ;    Mem.  de  Bassompierre,  de  Pontis,  Tallemant ; 
Aubery,  Hist,  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu  ;  Pere  Griffet,  Continuation  de 
1'Histoire  du  Pere  Daniel ;  Le  Vassor,  Hist,  de  Louis  XIII.  ;  Madame 
de  Motteville,  Mem.,  t.  1. 

16  Anquetil.    Le  Pere  Griffet,  who  states  that  Richelieu  revealed  the 
circumstance  to  the  King,  with  the  intention  of  increasing  the  wrath  of 
his  Majesty.    "  Le  Due  de  Montmorency,"  writes  Madame  Motteville, 
"  etoit  tres  assidu  aupres  d'Anne  d'Autriche  ;  il  fit  meme  le  passionne, 
et  il  pourrait  etre  arrive  qu'il  se  fut  pare  de  son  portrait  par  une 
galanterie  espagnole,  assez  a  la  mode  dans  ce  temps." 

17  Anquetil  ;    Motteville ;    le  P.   Griffet ;    Galerie  des  Personnages 
Illustres  de  la  Cour  de  Louis  XIII. 

18  "  Bullion   vint   a   bout   de   faire   abandonner   Montmorency   par 
Monsieur,  en  lui  persuadant  qu'il  falloit  absolument  une  victime  a  la 
justice  du  Roi  ;  et  qu'on  le  laissoit  le  maitre  de  sacrifier  Puylaurents  ou 
le  Due  de  Montmorency,  et  que  c'etoit  pour  lui  de  voir  s'il  vouloit 
conserver  le  Due,  ou  Puylaurents," 


1637]  AJNNE  OF  AUSTRIA  331 

19  Vie  du  Due  de  Montmorency. 

20  Vie  du  Pere  Joseph  Leclerc  de  Tremblay,  Capucin,  Instituteur  de 
TOrdre  des  Filles  de  Calvaire. 

21  The  chateau  of  Dammartin  was  given  to  the  Duchesse  de  Ventadour, 
half -sister  of  the  unhappy  Duke. 

22  Historiette  de  M.  de  Montmorency,  t.  3  ;  Tallemant  des  Reaux. 

23  Journal  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu. 

24  Marie  Catherine  de  la  Rochefoucauld,  Countess  de  Rendan,  widow  of 
Henri  de  Beauffremont  Marquis  de  Senece,  governor  of  Auxonne,  and 
ambassador  at  Madrid  during  three  years  of  the  regency. 

25  Cousin. — Mem.  de  M.  le  Cardinal  de  Richelieu  centre  M.  de  Chateau- 
neuf. — Archives  des  Affaires  Etrangeres  ;  France,  t.  ci.  ;  douze  pages 
de  la  main  de  Charpentier,  un  des  secretaires  de  Richelieu. 

26  Chateauneuf  did  not  stand  alone  in  this  misdemeanour.    The  king, 
writing  to  his  sister  Queen  Henrietta  Maria,  advises  her  to  have  the  new- 
born Prince  of  Wales  baptized  privately  by  her  Roman  Catholic  chaplain, 
which,  if  she  consented  to  do,  Louis  XIII.  promises  to  stand  sponsor  to 
the  child.    "  Vous  savez,  ma  soeur,  que  le  seul  moyen  de  vous  donner 
contentement,  que  la  reyne  ma  mere,  et  moi  nous  tenions  sur  les  fonts  de 
bapteme  le  prince  rnon  neveu,  c'est  qu'il  soit  baptise  a  la  catholique  ;  a 
quoi  vous  pouvez  beaucoup  contribuer,  puisque  cela  se  peut  faire  par 
votre  aumonier  dans  votre  oratoire,  le  roy  mon  frere  pouvant  alors  dire 
que  vous  1'avez   fait  sans  son  sceu,   et  consentement." — Lettre  de 
Louis  XIII.   a  la  Reyne  d'Angleterre. — Aubery,  Hist,  du  Card,  de 
Richelieu,  t.  5,  p.  375. 

27  Proces-Verbal  de  la  Visite  des  Papiers  de  M.  de  Chateauneuf,  faite 
par  MM.  Bouthillier  et  de  Bullion  ;  copie  communiquee  par  M.  le  Due 
de  Luynes  ;  Cousin,  Vie  de  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  p.  242. 

28  The  names  in  the  correspondence  between  Madame  de  Chevreuse 
and  Chateauneuf  were  indicated  by  ciphers  :   22  stood  for  Richelieu  ; 
24,  the  Queen  ;  28,  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  who  always  alludes  to  herself 
in  the  third  person. 

29  Cousin,  Vie  de  Madame  de  Chevreuse.  These  letters  are  also  quoted 
by  le  P.  Griffet,  Hist,  du  Regne  de  Louis  XIIL  ;    Continuation  de 
1'Hist.  de  France  du  Pere  Daniel. 

30  Cousin,  Vie  de  Madame  de  Chevreuse  ;  Motteville,  t.  c. 

31  Ibid. 

32  Dampierre  became  subsequently  one  of  the  most  magnificent  seats 
in  France.   It  was  restored  by  the  grandson  of  Madame  de  Chevreuse, 
son  of  her  son  by  the  Constable  de  Luynes,  upon  whom  the  peerage  of 
her  second  husband  was  confirmed.    The  Due  de  Chevreuse  and  de 
Luynes  married  the  eldest  daughter  of  the  famous  Colbert,  who  was  a 
wealthy  heiress.    Madame  de  Chevreuse  had  three  daughters  by  her 
second  husband  :   Anne  Marie  de  Lorraine,  abbess  of  Pont-aux-Dame  ; 
Henriette,    abbess    of    Jouarre ;     and    Mademoiselle    de    Chevreuse, 
celebrated  for  her  beauty,  and  the  admiration  of  the  coadjutor  De  Ret  z. 


332  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA 

33  Charles  de  Schomberg,  Due  d'Halluyn,  Pair  et  Marechal  de  France, 
Marquis  d'Epinay,  and  Comte  de  Nanteuil.   This  nobleman  eventually 
married  Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort,  September  24,  1646.    The  duke 
died  1656. 

34  Mem.  de  la  Porte.  Petitot,  t.  59. 

36  Daughter  of  C6sar  de  Bourbon,  Count  de  Busset,  and  of  Louise  de 
Montmorillon.  The  branch  of  Bourbon  Busset  descended  from  the 
turbulent  Louis,  Archbishop  of  Liege,  who  died  in  1482,  son  of 
Charles  I.,  Duke  of  Bourbon,  and  of  Agnes  of  Burgundy. 

36  The  words  of  this  oath  were,  "  Ego  Frater  Joannes  Baptista  Carre, 
ordinis  Praedicatorum,  vestri  Novitiatus  Generalis  Prioris,  voveo  et  pro- 
metto  obedientiam  tibi,  Domino  Eminentissimo  Armando  Cardinal} 
Duci  de  Richelieu,  usque  ad  mortem." — Archives  des  Affaires  Etran- 
geres, France,  t.  78  ;  Cousin,  Vie  de  Madame  de  Hautefort. 

37  Le  Pere  Griff  et,  Hist,  du  Regne  de  Louis  XIII.,  t.  3. 

38  Griffet,  t.  3. 

39  Siri,  Memorie  Recondite,  t.  4  ;  L'Espion,  Turc.  t.  4  (written  by  one 
Paolo  Marana) ;   Dreux  du  Radier,  t.  6 ;   Vie  de  Mademoiselle  de  la 
Fayette. 

40  Siri,  t.  8  ;  Dreux  du  Radier,  t.  6  ;  Le  Pere  Griffet,  t.  3  ;  Hist,  de 
Louis  XIII. 

41  Griffet,  t.  3. 

42  Le  Pere  Griffet,  t.  3  ;  Mem.  de  Motteville,  t.  1. 

43  Cousin,  Vie  de  Madame  de  Hautefort,  Appendix  sur  Mademoiselle 
de  la  Fayette  ;  Archives  des  Affaires  Etrangeres,  France,  t.  78,  fol.  63. 

44  "  L'oncle  espdrait  pour  moins  obtenir  un  chapeau  par  le  moyen  de  la 
petite." 

45  Archives  des  Affaires  Etrangeres,  France,  t.  78,  fol.  124. 

46  Mademoiselle  Thomassin  was  a  dresser  in  the  service  of  Anne   of 
Austria. 

47  Archives  des  Affaires  Etrangeres,  France,  t.  78,  fol.  150,  quoted  from 
M.  Cousin,  Appendix,  Vie  de  Madame  de  Hautefort. 

48  Mem.  de  Richelieu,  t.  x. 

49  Louis  XIII.  had  no  very  elevated  opinion  of  the  capacity  of  the  zealous 
Dominican.    "  Le  bon  Pere  Carre,"  said  his  Majesty  one  day,  "  estun 
de  ces  saints  qu'on  gagne  aisement  des  qu'on  a  bien  dore  une  chapelle." 

50  Mem.  de  Motteville ;    Griffet,  Regne  de  Louis  XIII.  ;    Dreux  du 
Radier,  t.  6. 

51  Ibid. 

62  Cousin,  Vie  de  Madame  de  Hautefort,  Bibl.  Imp.  Val.  73,  74,  MS. 
"  Le  Cardinal  m'a  dit  que  quand  le  Roi  eut  ete  trois  jours  sans  voir 
la  Fayette  il  seroit  gu6ri,  que  je  ne  pouvais  ignorer  ce  que  disoit 
St.  Jerdme,  qu'il  falloit  passer  sur  le  corps  de  son  pere,  pour  courir  a 
1'etendard  de  la  croix.  Je  lui  aurois  pu  dire,"  adds  Caussin,  "  que  le 
Saint-Esprit  ne  se  prend  pas  a  coups  de  canon  ;  mais  je  lui  dis  seulement 
que  si  j'eusse  presse  da  vantage,  j 'aurois  tout  gate." 


CHAPTER  VII 
1637 

ANNE   OF   AUSTRIA   AND   THE   CARDINAL   DE 
RICHELIEU 

THE  year  1637  opens  an  important  and  myste- 
rious era  in  the  married  life  of  Anne  of  Austria. 
It  is  the  period  of  her  most  flagrant  treason  against 
her  husband's  realm,  of  her  reconciliation  with 
the  Cardinal  de  Richelieu,  and  of  the  hope  which 
transported  France,  and  which  was  realised  during 
the  following  year  by  the  birth  of  Louis  Quatorze. 
Europe  during  the  year  1637  continued  con- 
vulsed with  warfare,  every  realm  seemed  shaken 
to  its  foundation.  The  invasion  of  Germany  by 
Gustavus  Adolphus  King  of  Sweden  in  the  year 
1630,  in  behalf  of  the  Protestant  Princes  of  Ger- 
many and  to  serve  the  cause  of  the  dethroned 
Elector  Palatine,  had  moved  every  nation.  Spain, 
united  to  the  Empire  by  close  family  ties  and 
political  sympathies,  threw  in  her  lot  with  the 
Emperor  Ferdinand  II.  Soon  the  war  had  assumed 
the  terrible  aspect  of  a  conflict  waged  between  the 
Protestant  Powers  of  Europe  allied  with  France, 
against  the  orthodox  and  potent  Empires  of  Spain 
and  Austria.  The  invasion  of  the  Swedes  occurred 
during  the  first  session  of  the  Diet  of  Ratisbon,  to 
which  the  envoys  of  France,  the  able  diplomatist 
Brulart  and  the  astute  Capuchin  father,  Joseph 

333 


334  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

de  Tremblay,  had  been  sent  by  Richelieu  to  nego- 
tiate a  peace  between  France,  the  Empire  and  the 
Dukes  of  Mantua  and  Savoy,  or  to  oppose  by 
every  artifice  the  election  of  the  Emperor's  eldest 
son  as  King  of  the  Romans.  The  desired  pacifica- 
tion was  obtained,  Casale  was  to  be  surrendered. 
The  Emperor  moreover  in  his  anxiety  to  secure 
the  promise  of  the  imperial  dignity  for  his  son, 
disbanded  at  the  solicitation  of  a  majority  of  the 
Electors  a  part  of  that  vast  army  under  his  re- 
nowned general  Albert  de  Wallenstein,  Duke  de 
Friedland,  which  held  the  rebellious  princes  in 
check  and  might  have  arrested  the  victorious 
advance  from  Pomerania  of  King  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus.1  The  Swedish  armies  laid  siege  to  Stettin, 
which  was  soon  taken  at  the  point  of  the  sword  and 
the  town  given  up  to  pillage  :  the  members  of  the 
Diet  thereupon  retired  in  dismay  from  Ratisbon 
without  proceeding  to  the  much-coveted  election. 
France  meanwhile  had  been  at  war  with  the 
Emperor  and  the  King  of  Spain  since  the  year 
1626  concerning  the  succession  to  the  Duchy  of 
Mantua.  The  old  policy  of  Henri  Quatre  therefore 
presented  itself  with  double  zest  to  Louis  XIII. 
and  his  minister  :  alliance  with  the  Protestant 
Powers  of  Europe  to  bring  about  the  humiliation 
of  the  overgrown  power  of  Spain,  to  wrest  the 
Empire  from  the  Hapsburgs,  Archdukes  of  Aus- 
tria, by  causing  the  election  of  a  King  of  the 
Romans  from  among  the  princes  of  another 
dynasty,  to  moderate  the  pretensions  of  the 
Papacy,  to  confer  the  power  of  supreme  nomina- 


16371  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  335 

tion  to  ecclesiastical  benefices  on  the  rulers  of  the 
various  countries  of  Europe,  and  to  abolish  the 
faculty  of  appeal  to  Rome  in  disputed  cases  con- 
cerning temporalities.  The  Great  Henry  projected 
this  political  revolution  while  holding  the  Cal- 
vinists  of  the  realm  in  strict  subjection.  Richelieu 
ventured  a  step  further  :  he  crushed  "  les  religion- 
naires"  drove  with  a  strong  hand  their  allies 
from  the  coast  of  France,  resumed  possession  of 
their  cities  of  refuge,  annulled  the  charters  of  La 
Rochelle  and  other  powerful  cities,  and  whilst  the 
Calvinists  cowered  before  the  prestige  of  the  crown, 
the  able  minister,  to  exalt  the  power  of  France 
abroad,  joined  their  foreign  allies  to  effect  in  other 
countries  the  reforms  which  he  had  so  sternly 
repressed  at  home.  In  1628  the  Valteline  was 
rescued  from  papal  domination  and  restored  to 
liberty  ;  and  in  1631,  two  years  after  La  Rochelle 
fell  at  the  feet  of  Richelieu,  the  alliance  between 
the  Protestant  crown  of  Sweden  with  the  Catholic 
realm  of  France  was  concluded,  for  the  overthrow 
of  the  Imperial  House  and  the  reform  of  the  Ger- 
manic Confederation.  The  treaty  between  France 
and  Sweden  was  signed  January  1631  at  the  camp 
of  Berwalt  in  Brandenburg  ;  the  plenipotenti- 
aries who  ratified  this  astonishing  alliance  were 
M.  de  Charnece  on  behalf  of  France,  and  Horn, 
Marechal  de  Camp  of  the  Swedish  forces,  and 
Bannier,  their  famed  general  of  infantry.2  The 
articles  stipulated  an  alliance  offensive  and  defen- 
sive between  the  two  crowns  ;  that  the  King  of 
France  should  furnish  annually  for  the  service  of 


336  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

the  war  an  annual  subsidy  of  one  million  of  livres  ; 3 
that  the  invading  army  should  always  be  main- 
tained at  a  complement  of  thirty  thousand  in- 
fantry and  six  thousand  cavalry.  Finally,  that 
the  Roman  Catholic  religion  should  be  respected, 
and  that  no  wilful  spoliation  of  cathedrals,  monas- 
teries and  church  treasures  should  be  permitted. 
England  joined  the  allies,  Denmark  wished  well 
to  the  forces  of  the  gallant  realm,  her  neighbour, 
and  thus  was  inaugurated  that  contest  known 
under  the  familiar  designation  of  the  Thirty  Years' 
War.  France  fought  well  and  bravely  in  the  con- 
test, the  success  of  the  Scandinavian  monarch 
was  unparalleled,  victory  followed  his  banners ; 
in  vain  Tilly,  Wallenstein,  Montecuculi  and  the 
Emperor  himself  sought  to  arrest  his  progress. 
Complete  religious  and  political  freedom  seemed 
about  to  dawn  on  Germany  ;  in  the  space  of  two 
years  Gustavus  Adolphus  gained  thirty  battles 
and  took  two  hundred  towns,  no  limit  therefore 
could  be  prescribed  to  the  prowess  of  a  conqueror 
so  mighty.  Richelieu  thereupon  began  to  reflect ; 
the  war  approached  the  Alsatian  frontier,  and 
possibly  the  Swedish  hero  might  long  to  test  his 
veteran  soldiers  against  the  world-renowned  chiv- 
alry of  France.  When  Germany  lay  prostrate, 
Richelieu  argued — might  not  the  Imperial  banner 
be  again  raised  from  the  dust  by  the  hero,  and 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  become  the  ally  of  the 
Emperor  Ferdinand,  lead  his  legions  over  the 
frontier  and  dictate  the  pacification  of  Europe 
from  Paris  ?  Long  did  Richelieu  and  his  two 


1687];  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  337 

confidants,  the  Capuchin  and  Dominican  fathers, 
Joseph  de  Tremblay  and  Carre,  ponder  over  a 
glory  that  eclipsed  the  exploits  of  the  minister  in 
Piedmont  and  Montferrat,  and  which  reduced 
the  much-lauded  conflict  of  the  Pass  of  Susa  into 
an  ignoble  skirmish  when  compared  to  the  mighty 
victories  of  Gustavus.  The  jealousy  of  the  Car- 
dinal did  not  long  ferment ;  on  the  6th  day  of 
November  1632,  the  gallant  King  fell  on  the 
plains  of  Lutzen  in  the  very  arms  of  victory. 
Gustavus  received  two  mortal  wounds  from  the 
hand,  it  was  rumoured,  of  an  assassin,  who  him- 
self died  from  the  pistol  of  an  officer  mysteriously 
at  hand  to  avenge  the  assassination.  Later  the 
body  of  this  personage  was  likewise  found  ex- 
tended on  the  battle-field  mutilated  by  sabre 
wounds.4  France  then  rallied  from  her  panic  :  in 
the  preceding  month  Montmorency  had  suffered 
the  penalty  of  treason ;  the  rebel  league  with 
Spain,  cemented  by  the  boyish  resentment  of 
Monsieur,  was  dissolved  on  the  field  of  Castel- 
naudari.  Monsieur,  penitent,  as  has  been  before 
related  so  long  as  the  rod  was  suspended  over  his 
head,  soon  regretted  his  concessions  and  fled 
again  from  the  realm.  The  flight  of  Orleans  gave 
Richelieu  opportunity  for  completing  the  annexa- 
tion of  the  duchy  of  Lorraine.  Nancy  was  in- 
vested and  garrisoned  by  French  troops ;  the 
Duke,  after  a  hasty  abdication  in  favour  of  the 
Cardinal  his  brother,  fled  to  Besan£on  and  joined 
a  division  of  the  Imperial  army  under  Monte- 
cuculi.  On  the  plains  of  Lombardy  the  French 


338  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

armies  encountered  the  Spanish  forces  with  vary- 
ing success,  and  but  few  notable  achievements 
gave  lustre  or  renown  to  the  contest.  The  King's 
generals  were  Marshal  de  Crequi  and  the  Cardinal 
de  la  Valette,  the  brother  of  the  famous  Duke 
d'Epernon,  who  was  renowned  rather  for  his 
military  capacity  than  known  as  a  prince  of  the 
Church  and  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Toulouse. 
The  Duke  of  Saxe  Weimar,  after  the  death  of 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  commanded  the  French  con- 
tingent in  Germany,  and  the  war  continued  to 
rage  with  varied  success,  Bannier,  the  most  re- 
nowned of  the  Swedish  generals,  having  the  com- 
mand in  chief  of  the  forces.  In  1633  Heidelberg 
was  taken  by  the  Swedes,  and  in  September  of 
the  same  year  a  Spanish  army  under  the  Duke  de 
Feria  entered  Germany  and  joined  the  Imperial 
forces — Feria  having  first  escorted  the  new  gover- 
nor of  the  Low  Countries,  the  Cardinal  Infant  Don 
Ferdinand,5  to  Brussels. 

In  this  year  the  Archduchess  Infanta  Isabel 6 
died  without  posterity,  and  according  to  the 
terms  of  the  will  of  her  father  Philip  II.  King  of 
Spain  the  sovereignty  of  the  Low  Countries  re- 
verted to  the  Spanish  crown.  Ferdinand  had  great 
influence  with  his  sister  Queen  Anne  of  Austria, 
and  was  her  frequent  correspondent,  and  after 
his  arrival  in  Brussels  most  of  Anne's  private 
correspondence  with  Spain  passed  through  his 
hands.  Queen  Marie  meantime,  on  the  decease  of 
the  Infanta,  quitted  Brussels  and  retired  to  Spa, 
paying  a  visit  en  route  to  the  Prince  and  Princess 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  339 

of  Orange  at  Bolduc.  Monsieur  however  re- 
mained the  guest  of  the  Archduke  Ferdinand, 
fretting  at  the  life  of  inaction  and  self-denial 
which  his  exile  entailed,  tenaciously  resenting 
fancied  affronts  to  his  high  dignity,  at  variance 
with  the  Queen-mother  and  becoming  weary  of 
the  society  of  his  estimable  but  inert  consort, 
whose  beauty  had  now  lost  its  influence  over  his 
capricious  heart.  Meantime  the  great  battle  of 
Nordlingen,  gained  by  the  armies  of  Spain  and  the 
Empire  over  the  forces  of  France  and.  her  allies, 
September  6,  1634,  seemed  to  awaken  again  the 
patriotism  of  the  Duke — or  perhaps  gave  him 
opportunity  for  the  step  which  he  had  long  medi- 
tated, his  return  to  France,  an  event  earnestly 
desired  by  Richelieu,  who  felt  the  necessity  of 
making  concessions  to  a  prince  who  might  any 
day  hear  himself  saluted  as  King  of  France.  The 
Duke,  as  the  price  of  this  concession  had  asked  for 
the  recognition  of  his  marriage  with  Marguerite  de 
Lorraine.  Louis  offered  to  submit  again  the  ques- 
tion of  the  legality  of  this  marriage  to  the  highest 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  authorities  of  the  realm, 
and  in  case  their  decision  was  adverse  to  in- 
demnify the  Princess,  to  create  her  a  duchess  and 
not  to  compel  Monsieur  to  marry  again  against  his 
inclination.  The  Duke  accepted  this  proposition, 
being  nevertheless  firmly  resolved  to  maintain  the 
validity  of  his  union  with  Madame,  which  he  re- 
garded as  a  master-stroke  of  defiance  to  the  will 
of  Richelieu.  Monsieur  also  asked  for  the  pay- 
ment of  his  debts.  Louis  generously  presented 


340  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1637 

his  brother  with  the  sum  of  400,000  livres  for  that 
purpose.  Moreover  it  was  stipulated  that  all  the 
Duke's  revenues  should  be  restored,  with  the 
donation  of  a  further  sum  of  160,000  crowns  for 
his  immediate  equipment.  The  government  of 
Auvergne  was  also  to  be  conferred  on  Monsieur 
to  indemnify  him  for  the  loss  of  that  over  the 
Orleanois  which  had  been  forfeited  after  the  late 
rebellion.7 

Content,  as  he  well  might  be,  with  these  muni- 
ficent stipulations,  Monsieur,  without  taking  leave 
of  his  wife,  fled  from  Brussels  on  the  12th  of 
September  and  repaired  to  St.  Germain,  where 
the  brothers  interchanged  a  fraternal  embrace, 
Gaston  taking  Heaven  to  witness  that  he  would 
be  a  true  and  faithful  subject  and  a  sincere  and 
cordial  ally  of  M.  le  Cardinal.    The  following  day 
his  Eminence  regaled  the  returned  prodigal  by  a 
sumptuous  banquet  at  Ruel,  of  which  the  Duchess 
d'Aiguillon  was  queen.     From  Anne  of  Austria 
Monsieur  met  with  a  cool  reception.     His  mar- 
riage and  his  subsequent  persistence  in  his  union 
with  Marguerite  de   Lorraine  dissipated  any  in- 
fluence which  he  had  exercised  over  the  mind  and 
conduct  of  the  Queen.     In  Monsieur  Anne  now 
beheld  the  married  heir-presumptive,  ready  on  the 
demise  of  his  brother  and  King  to  seize  her  crowrn 
and  transfer  it  to  his  own  consort.    More  than 
ever  Anne  deplored  her  childless  condition,  and 
lamented  that  in  spite   of  her  prayers,  offerings 
and  vows  after  twenty-two  years  of  wedlock  the 
blessing  appeared  farther  than  ever  from  attain- 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  341 

ment.  The  alienation  between  Anne  and  her  hus- 
band had  become  more  confirmed  if  less  visibly 
demonstrated.  Louis,  refreshed  by  the  deferential 
homage  of  Mademoiselle  de  la  Fayette,  or  de 
Hautefort,  cared  not  for  another  companion. 
Anne,  with  her  fair  beauty,  her  consciousness  of 
her  charms,  her  petulant  and  derisive  wit,  her 
determined  self-will  and  her  Spanish  inclinations, 
had  become  hateful  and  sometimes  even  terrible 
to  the  King.  Alone  in  his  solitary  chamber  Louis 
loved  to  be  at  peace,  to  avoid  the  trouble  and 
fatigue  of  kingly  rule  and  to  abandon  himself  to 
melancholy  musings  and  to  the  alleviation  of  his 
frequent  and  painful  maladies.  The  excitement 
of  a  camp,  of  a  review,  of  a  military  progress,  alone 
had  power  to  dissipate  his  Majesty's  constitutional 
languor. 

The  military  events  of  the  year  1635  were 
adverse  for  France  ;  notwithstanding  incredible 
efforts  on  the  part  of  the  government,  reverses 
met  the  allies  everywhere.  The  French  had  three 
armies  on  foot  in  Germany  ;  one  of  12,000  men 
under  Marshal  de  Feuquieres  and  the  Duke 
Bernard  of  Saxe  Weimar ;  the  second  corps  de 
bataille  under  Cardinal  de  la  Valette  was  destined 
to  march  for  the  rescue  of  the  Palatinate,  Heidel- 
berg having  again  fallen ;  the  third  army  under 
Marshal  de  la  Force  kept  guard  on  the  frontiers 
of  Alsace.  In  Italy  Louis  had  an  army  of  12,000 
men  and  2000  horse  under  the  Marshal  de  Crequi ; 
in  the  Valteline  the  French  soldiers  numbered 
1200  men  and  800  horse ;  in  Provence  and 


342  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

Languedoc  and  in  Lorraine  large  bodies  of  troops 
were  quartered.  With  such  forces  in  the  pay  of 
France,  in  addition  to  heavy  subsidies  to  the 
allies  of  the  crown,  well  might  King  Louis  exclaim 
in  a  despatch  to  the  Marshals  de  Chatillon  and  de 
Breze,  "  Judge,  Messieurs,  therefore,  whether  it  is 
possible  for  me — I  having  to  support  alone  the 
cost  of  such  great  armies — to  raise  other  reinforce- 
ments for  my  allies.  Such  armies  as  mine  ought  to 
draw  to  me  all  the  forces  of  the  said  allies  !  "  8 
The  most  energetic  measures  nevertheless  were 
necessary,  Richelieu  beheld  with  horror  the  pro- 
gress of  the  Imperialists  and  the  slender  chance 
which  existed  that  the  Duke  of  Saxe  Weimar 
would  be  able  to  defend  the  frontiers  from  inva- 
sion. Spain  threatened  Provence  and  Languedoc, 
the  Imperial  armies  were  marching  into  Cham- 
pagne and  Picardy,  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  pre- 
pared to  attack  his  confiscated  duchy,  all  the 
resources  of  Spain  and  the  Empire  seemed  united 
to  invade  France  and  thus  deprive  the  great  Pro- 
testant League  of  her  chief  ally.  In  the  midst  of 
this  suspense  the  fortress  of  Philipsburg  was  taken. 
Utter  panic  thereupon  prevailed  throughout  the 
kingdom  as  treasures  and  abundant  military 
stores  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The  Mar- 
shals de  la  Force  and  the  Duke  d'Angouleme  were 
sent  into  Lorraine  to  intercept  the  advance  of 
the  Imperial  general,  Gallas,9  on  the  cities  of 
Toul,  Metz  and  Verdun,  while  the  King  himself 
marched  to  the  frontiers  of  the  duchy.  Crequi 
meanwhile  entered  the  Milanese  and  laid  siege  to 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  343 

Valenza.  A  victory  soon  after  gained  by  the  Duke 
of  Lorraine  over  the  troops  under  La  Force,  and 
the  news  of  the  capture  of  the  city  of  Treves  by  the 
Spanish  commander-in-chief  of  the  forces  in  the 
Low  Countries,  completed  the  national  despon- 
dency. The  gallantry  of  the  Cardinal  Infant 
governor  of  the  Low  Countries,  and  brother  of 
Queen  Anne,  eminently  contributed  to  the  success 
of  the  war.  The  French  received  another  repulse 
in  Italy,  where  Crequi  with  his  allies  the  Dukes 
of  Savoy  and  Parma  was  compelled  to  raise  the 
siege  of  Valenza  and  retreat  before  the  victorious 
arms  of  the  Marquis  de  Alada  and  Don  Carlos 
Coloma.  This  disastrous  year  terminated  by  the 
assemblage  of  a  second  Diet  in  Ratisbon  by  the 
victorious  Emperor,  and  by  the  triumphant  elec- 
tion of  his  son  as  King  of  the  Romans,  who  had 
married  the  sister  of  the  consort  of  Louis  XIII. 

France,  menaced  by  invasion  from  every  quarter 
of  her  territory,  concluded  alliance  offensive  and 
defensive,  February  1635,  with  the  States  of 
Holland  against  Spain  and  had  thus  directly 
challenged  that  potent  monarchy.  The  treaty 
was  elaborate  and  calculated  to  exasperate  King 
Philip  and  his  minister  Olivarez.  Louis  actually 
therein  divided  the  Netherlands  with  his  Dutch 
allies  ;  the  share  of  territory  to  fall  to  France  in 
case  of  victory  being  Luxembourg,  the  counties  of 
Artois,  Namur,  Hainault,  Flanders  and  the  Cam- 
bresis  !  The  answer  of  Spain  to  this  challenge  was 
the  inroad  of  a  formidable  army,  early  in  the  year 
1636,  under  Prince  Thomas  of  Savoy,  Piccolomini 


344  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1637 

and  Jean  de  Wert,  on  the  province  of  Picardy. 
La  Capelle  Chatelet  and  the  town  of  Corbie  were 
captured,  and  the  road  to  Paris  opened  for  the 
advance  of  the  enemy  on  the  capital.  The  con- 
sternation was  so  great  at  court  and  in  the  city 
that  the  Cardinal  dared  not  show  himself,  for 
there  was  no  insult  which  the  populace  would  not 
have  been  ready  to  shower  upon  him  when  the 
news  of  the  fall  of  Corbie  arrived.  Richelieu  him- 
self was  so  depressed  in  mind  and  body  at  the 
gigantic  war  which  enveloped  France  that  if  Pere 
Joseph,  to  whom  he  confided  his  trouble,  had  not 
encouraged  and  counselled  him  he  was  on  the 
point  of  retiring  from  the  administration  of 
affairs.10  Chavigny,  Richelieu's  confidential  friend, 
describes  the  panic  which  followed  the  advance  of 
the  Spanish  armies  ;  "  but,"  says  he,  "  the  King 
has  gone  for  change  of  air  to  Madrid,11  and  Mon- 
signeur  to  Chaillot,  they  both  now  understand 
each  other  and  are  in  perfect  health."  12  The 
Count  de  Soissons  meantime  was  sent  into 
Picardy  as  commander-in-chief,  where  Louis  him- 
self followed  and  took  up  his  quarters  in  the  city 
of  Amiens.  The  Duke  de  Montbazon  repaired  to 
Soissons,  Breze  to  La  Fere,  the  Count  d'Alais 
to  Abbeville,  Bethune  to  La  Peronne  and  Ram- 
bures  to  Dourlens — all  .  being  eager  to  defend 
their  country  from  invasion ;  while  the  Duke  de 
Longueville,  at  the  head  of  6000  men,  kept  guard 
over  the  frontier  of  Normandy. 

The   Queen,  during  these  momentous  events, 
resided  at  St.  Germain  and  took  eager  interest  in 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  345 

the  affairs  of  the  war.  Notwithstanding  the  re- 
newed prohibition  of  the  King,  Anne  persisted  in 
her  clandestine  correspondence  with  her  brothers, 
Don  Philip  IV.,  and  Ferdinand,  governor  of  the 
Low  Countries.  Her  indignation  had  been  im- 
prudently expressed  at  the  treaty  concluded  by 
Louis  XIII.  with  the  States-General  of  Holland 
against  Spain,  while  her  Majesty  could  scarcely 
conceal  her  joy  at  the  triumph  of  her  countrymen 
and  at  the  visible  dismay  and  depression  of  the 
minister.  While  France  mourned  in  consternation, 
Anne  and  her  favourite  ladies  exulted,  and  la 
Fayette  was  tauntingly  advised  by  the  Queen  to 
counsel  King  Louis  to  make  timely  peace  whilst 
he  was  able  with  Spain.  The  treacherous  half- 
surrender  of  La  Capelle  by  the  governor,  M.  du 
Bee,  and  the  unexpected  advance  of  the  Spanish 
army  upon  Roye,  had  excited  the  suspicion  of 
Richelieu.  Letters  intended  for  the  Cardinal  Infant 
were  captured  ;  the  mysterious  and  suspicious 
allusions  in  which,  on  the  condition  of  the  frontier 
fortresses,  inspired  him  with  alarm  and  indigna- 
tion. The  facts  which  unaccountably  transpired 
relative  to  the  military  resources  of  the  realm 
proceeded  evidently  from  some  personage  highly 
placed  and  in  the  daily  habit  of  hearing  important 
discussions  relative  to  the  war.  Richelieu,  never- 
theless, dared  not  at  this  period  reveal  his  con- 
victions ;  his  own  position  was  precarious,  his 
enemies  many,  and  the  disastrous  result  of  the 
campaign  of  1635-6  had  placed  sharp  weapons  in 
the  hands  of  persons  who  plotted  his  overthrow. 


346  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

The  people  generally,  pronounced  that  the  alliance 
of  Catholic  France  and  Protestant  Germany  was 
unhallowed  and  likely  to  be  visited  with  condign 
j  udgment.  So  anxious  was  Richelieu  to  propitiate 
Louis  and  to  conciliate  public  opinion,  that  by 
the  advice  of  his  wily  adviser,  the  Capuchin 
Joseph,  he  presented  to  the  King  "  his  Hotel  de 
Richelieu  (afterwards  Palais-Royal)  with  all  its 
dependencies ;  also  his  superb  and  magnificent 
vessels  for  the  altar  of  gold  and  diamonds,  his 
state  buffet  and  its  trophies  of  silver  plate  valued 
at  three  thousand  golden  marks,  his  celebrated 
heart-shaped  diamond  weighing  twenty  carats  : 
the  whole  unconditionally,  but  reserving  to  him- 
self the  enjoyment  of  the  above  during  his  life- 
time." 13  "  Monseigneur,  by  this  graceful  act  you 
will  diminish  the  dislike  felt  towards  your  Eminence 
by  the  populace,  you  will  convince  the  public 
that  you  use  wisely  and  liberally  the  favours  and 
honours  given  you  by  the  King,  and  that  at  your 
death  your  only  wish  is  to  restore  your  riches  to 
your  benefactor,  instead  of  bequeathing  such  to 
your  relatives.  By  this  generosity  you  will  acquire 
immortal  renown,  and  your  most  bitter  enemy 
must  be  converted  into  an  eulogist  of  your  dis- 
interestedness." So  argued  Pere  Joseph ;  and 
Chavigny,  therefore,  on  the  9th  of  June,  1636, 
carried  the  donation  signed  by  his  Eminence  to 
the  King,  who  was  pleased  to  accept  the  gift. 
The  fortune  of  the  great  minister  soon  emerged 
from  the  cloud  of  adversity,  to  the  consternation 
of  his  adversaries.  In  November  1636  Corbie  was 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  347 

recaptured  and  its  garrison  of  1600  Spaniards 
compelled  to  capitulate,  and  Gallas  was  repulsed 
and  compelled  to  retreat  from  the  duchy  of  Bur- 
gundy before  the  gallant  deeds  of  Conde.  Suc- 
cesses also  attended  the  French  arms  in  Lorraine, 
so  that  the  end  of  the  year  1636  again  found  the 
policy  of  Richelieu  in  the  ascendant,  and  the 
minister  established  and  greeted  by  his  sovereign 
as  "  Celui  qu'il  aimoit  le  plus,  avec  M.  le  Cardinal 
de  la  Valette,  en  France" 

Monsieur,  meantime,  had  shared  the  campaign 
in  Picardy  with  his  cousin,  M.  de  Soissons,  the 
Princes  having  been  declared  by  the  King  com- 
manders of  the  besieging  army.  No  sooner  had 
Corbie  capitulated  and  the  court  rejoiced  at  so 
glorious  an  issue  of  the  campaign,  when  Monsieur 
again  fled  from  Versailles  to  Blois,  while  M.  de 
Soissons  in  disguise  reached  the  rebel  haven, 
Bouillon's  fortress  of  Sedan.  The  courtiers  were 
confounded  ;  Chavigny,  in  his  amusing  letters, 
which  relieve  the  dry  details  of  military  proceed- 
ings, finds  no  word  to  express  his  amazement  at 
such  an  escapade.  "  The  King,"  says  Chavigny, 
"  sent  for  Monsieur  after  the  surrender  of  Corbie, 
to  consult  with  him  on  the  dispersion  of  the  army 
and  the  towns  in  which  large  garrisons  should 
winter,  after  which  his  Majesty  said  to  his 
brother  that  it  was  now  time  that  he  should  enjoy 
himself  a  little  in  Paris.  Monsieur,  however,  in- 
sisted upon  departing  into  Champagne,  to  which 
his  Majesty  declined  to  assent  as  there  was  no 
military  work  in  the  province  requiring  his  High- 


348  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1C37 

ness's  presence.  I  do  not  know  whether  this 
denial  offended  Monsieur  ;  it  is  certain,  however, 
that  he  has  again  fled  from  court,  which  is  a  thing 
that  fills  us  with  despair,  for  it  appears  as  if  the 
same  work  and  negotiations  have  to  begin  over 
and  over  again !  "  14  The  true  reason  of  the  flight 
of  the  Duke  and  of  the  Count  de  Soissons,  was 
their  dread  of  Richelieu's  vengeance  after  his 
detection  of  a  plot  concocted  between  them  to 
assassinate  the  minister  on  one  of  his  visits  to  the 
royal  abode — a  castle  in  the  vicinity  of  Amiens. 
The  design  failed  owing  to  the  faint-heartedness 
of  the  Duke,  who  assuredly  then  held  his  enemy  in 
his  toils,  as  Richelieu,  separated  from  his  own 
attendants,  was  conversing  with  Monsieur,  around 
whom  stood  the  four  gentlemen  who,  on  a  signal, 
were  to  give  the  fatal  blow.  Monsieur,  assailed 
with  a  remorseful  panic,  suddenly  ran  up  some 
steps  leading  to  the  King's  apartment,  leaving 
Richelieu  surrounded  by  his  intended  assassins, 
who,  perceiving  the  Duke's  perturbation,  dared 
not  strike.  Richelieu,  with  admirable  sang-froid, 
comprehending  how  matters  stood,  bowed,  and 
calmly  entered  his  coach  which  was  in  waiting. 
The  Cardinal  then  caused  the  rumour  to  be  circu- 
lated that  the  King  had  resolved  on  the  arrest  of 
M.  d'Orleans  and  of  M.  de  Soissons  on  their  return 
to  Paris.  The  flight  of  the  Princes  ensued,  and 
neither  of  them  quitted  their  retreat  until  fresh 
calamities  convulsed  the  realm.  Monsieur,  never- 
theless, obtained  from  his  brother  the  long-sought 
recognition  of  his  marriage  with  Marguerite  de 


16371  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  349 

Lorraine — "  provided  that  Monsieur  espoused  not, 
with  the  Princess,  the  pretensions  and  resentment 
of  Duke  Charles  of  Lorraine,  her  brother."16 

The  year  1637  opened  with  the  capture  of 
Landrecy  and  the  siege  of  La  Capelle  ;  important 
military  events,  which,  united  to  the  victories  of 
the  Duke  of  Weimar  in  Alsace,  restored  the  mili- 
tary prestige  of  France.  The  desire,  therefore,  to 
conclude  an  honourable  peace  with  Spain,  and 
to  put  an  end  to  the  warfare  in  Italy,  was  now 
earnestly  entertained  by  Richelieu.  To  effect 
this  boon  without  compromising  his  sovereign,  the 
Cardinal  opened  a  private  correspondence  with 
the  powerful  minister  and  favourite  of  Philip  IV., 
the  Count-duke  de  Olivarez.  In  this  patriotic 
and  laudable  design,  Richelieu  found  himself 
foiled  by  the  intrigues  of  Anne  of  Austria,  who 
counselled  her  brother  to  enforce  a  solution  of  the 
political  events  leading  to  the  war  at  the  swrord's 
point  rather  than  by  the  pen  of  the  diplomatist. 
Richelieu  confided  his  suspicions  to  Pere  Joseph, 
and  asked  his  invaluable  assistance  to  unravel 
the  intrigue.  The  doubts  of  Richelieu  were  first 
excited  during  the  month  of  April  of  the  .year 
1637  ;  during  the  following  months  of  June  and 
July  the  minister  acquired  more  positive  know- 
ledge on  the  subject  of  the  Queen's  frequent  corre- 
spondence with  the  enemy.  He  had  resolved  to 
send  a  secret  agent  to  Spain  to  test  the  popular 
feeling  of  the  country  in  regard  to  the  war  with 
France  and  the  private  dispositions  of  the 
Spanish  ministers.  For  this  purpose,  by  the 


350  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

advice  of  Pere  Joseph,  a  monk  of  the  order  of 
Recollets,  one  Jerome  Bachelier  was  selected— 
partly  for  his  skill  in  chicane,  but  more  especially 
as  he  was  slightly  acquainted  with  Olivarez,  with 
whom  Bachelier  had  conferred  when  sent  to 
Spain  some  years  previously  on  a  mission  con- 
nected with  his  order.  Some  ostensible  errand, 
however,  it  was  needful  to  provide,  in  order  to 
procure  for  Bachelier  an  audience  of  the  Count- 
duke.  Richelieu  therefore  suggested  to  Anne  of 
Austria,  that  as  God  had  not  yet  granted  her 
prayer  for  offspring,  and  as  she  had  already  caused 
prayers  to  be  put  up  at  every  shrine  in  France, 
it  might  be  advisable  to  solicit  her  brother,  King 
Philip,  to  send  her  a  fragment  of  some  renowned 
saint  of  Spain,  whose  intercession  might  procure 
for  her  the  unspeakable  blessing  of  becoming  the 
happy  mother  of  a  Dauphin.  Anne  assented,  and 
wrote  to  the  King  her  brother,  to  send  her  the  arm 
of  the  holy  and  blessed  St.  Isidore  of  Seville,  to  be 
enshrined  in  her  chapel  of  Val  de  Grace,  that  she 
might  daily  kneel  in  supplication  before  this  pre- 
cious relic  of  the  Oracle  of  Spain.  Probably  on 
this  occasion  Richelieu  addressed  to  the  Queen 
the  following  extraordinary  epistle,  which  affords 
in  itself  no  clue  to  the  period  when  it  was  written  : 
"  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  express  to  your 
Majesty  the  affliction  with  which  I  am  inspired,  in 
finding,  from  the  letter  with  which  I  have  been 
honoured,  that  God  still  withholds  from  your 
marriage  the  benediction  which  we  had  all  trusted 
to  obtain  from  His  goodness.  I  assure  your 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  351 

Majesty  that  the  King  grieves  as  much  for  the 
affection  which  he  bears  you  as  for  his  own  sake, 
and  for  the  welfare  of  this  realm.  Nevertheless  I 
pray  you  to  take  comfort.  What  God  withholds 
at  one  time  He  bestows  at  another,  and  the 
Almighty,  having  hitherto  testified  a  peculiar  care 
for  France,  will  in  His  own  good  time  crown  the 
blessings  he  has  showered  upon  us  by  giving  the 
one  boon  alone  capable  of  consummating  our 
felicity.  I  pray  earnestly  that  so  it  may  be  : 
deign  to  believe,  Madame,  that  no  one  desires  this 
blessing  more  fervently  than  myself." 16  The 
Queen,  however,  far  from  being  penetrated  with 
Richelieu's  devotion  for  her  welfare,  while  solicit- 
ing through  Bachelier  the  arm  of  St.  Isidore,  wrote 
by  ses  voles  secretes  to  her  brother  the  King,  to  be 
on  his  guard  against  the  intrigues  of  the  monk 
sent  with  her  petition,  as  his  true  mission  was 
secret  and  political.  Bachelier,  accordingly,  on 
his  arrival  at  Madrid  found  every  ministerial  door 
closed  against  him  and  audience  of  the  Count- 
duke  refused  unless  he  first  made  a  statement  of 
his  errand.  Compelled  to  submit,  Bachelier  had 
then  the  mortification  to  find  his  request  referred 
to  the  Archbishops  of  Toledo  and  Seville,  who  had 
received  his  Catholic  Majesty's  commands  to  com- 
ply with  the  pious  petition  of  his  sister,  the  very 
Christian  Queen.  Foiled  in  his  design  and  con- 
firmed in  his  distrust  of  the  Queen  by  Bachelier's 
report,  "  that  the  intimation  of  the  true  object  of 
his  mission  proceeded  from  a  high  authority  in 
France,"  17  Richelieu  commenced  in  good  earnest 


352  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

investigations  which  he  resolved  should  issue  in 
the  repudiation  of  Anne  of  Austria,  or  in  her  per- 
fect submission  to  his  decrees,  of  whatever  nature 
he  thought  proper  to  propose.    His  first  step  was  to 
place  spies  about  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  who  was 
considered  by  his  Eminence  as  the  mischievous 
instigator  and  upholder  of  Anne's  misdemeanours ; 
his  second,  by  the  aid  of  Father  Joseph  and  the 
Archbishop  of  Paris,  to  introduce  a  young  Capu- 
chin monk  as  confessor  to  some  of  the  sisterhood 
of  Val  de  Grace — trusting  by  this  device  to  gain 
insight  into  her  Majesty's  proceedings  when  at  the 
convent,  from  whence  all  her  private  correspon- 
dence was  despatched.     It  was  discovered  by  this 
means  that  a  person  in  disguise  was  in  the  habit 
of  leaving  letters  for  the  Queen  at  the  convent, 
which  were  delivered  to  the  abbess,   who  now 
placed  them  in  a  recess  in  the  wall  by  the  side  of 
the  altar  in  the  Queen's  oratory.    Anne  always  pro- 
ceeded to  the  convent  to  peruse  her  letters  and  to 
indite  her  answers,  which  she  placed  in  the  same 
hiding-place.     A  few  hours  after  the  Queen's  visit 
the  same  messenger  appeared  at  the  convent-grate, 
to  whom  the  letters  were  given  by  the  abbess  her- 
self. This  messenger  was  soon  traced  by  Richelieu's 
secret  police ;  he  was  discovered  to  be  la  Porte,  the 
Queen's  faithful  servant,  who  had  before  suffered 
in  her  cause.     He  was  followed  to  the  hotel  of  the 
English  embassy  where  he  was  heard  to  inquire  for 
one  M.  Auger,  and  from  the  same  embassy  he  was 
one  morning  pursued  to  the  convent  where  he  was 
seen  to  leave  a  letter  at  the  grate  of  the  parloir.18 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  353 

Madame  de  Chevreuse,  meantime,  had  ex- 
perienced some  alleviation  in  the  rigour  of  her 
captivity  at  Milly.  She  had  been  suffered  to 
leave  that  dismal  chateau  and  take  an  hotel  in 
Tours,  where  her  proceedings  with  the  old  Arch- 
bishop of  Tours  afforded  great  scandal  to  his  pious 
flock.19  The  prelate  was  so  fascinated  with  the 
beauty  and  wit  of  the  Duchess  that  he  became  a 
martyr  to  her  caprice,  and  showed  perfect  in- 
difference to  the  decorum  appertaining  to  his  high 
position. 

Richelieu  therefore,  sent  an  exempt  of  his  police 
down  to  Tours  to  watch  the  manoeuvres  of  his  old 
enemy,  and  discovered  that  missives  were  often 
mysteriously  despatched  by  Marc  de  la  Porte, 
brother  of  the  Queen's  servant,  and  valet  in  the 
service  of  the  Duchess,  who  also  was  in  the  habit 
of  receiving  packets  from  his  brother  in  Paris  ; 
the  copy  of  a  letter,  moreover,  alleged  to  have 
been  written  by  Madame  de  Chevreuse  to  the 
Duke  de  Lorraine,  was  transmitted  by  an  anony- 
mous hand  to  the  Cardinal  de  Richelieu.  In  this 
letter  the  duchess  taunted  her  old  admirer  with 
his  languid  zeal  against  the  despoiler  of  his  duchy 
— the  tyrant  Richelieu — whom,  with  the  same 
perverted  taste  which  characterised  her  inter- 
cepted correspondence  with  Chateauneuf,  Ma- 
dame de  Chevreuse  vilified  in  opprobrious  terms. 
Richelieu  now  thought  it  time  to  humble  the 
haughty  Princess  who  had  dared  to  defy  his 
power,  reject  his  amity  and  to  ridicule  his  ad- 
miration. The  gravity  of  the  Queen's  offence 


354  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

merited  arrest  for  high  treason.  From  Louis 
XIII.  Anne  had  little  indulgence  to  expect ;  pre- 
possessed with  the  idea  that  she  had  sanctioned, 
and  even  devised,  the  conspiracy  for  which 
Chalais  suffered,  the  King  was  ready  to  believe 
any  infamy  which  might  be  alleged  against  his 
imprudent  consort. 

On  the  last  day  of  July  1637,  Richelieu  assem- 
bled the  council  of  state  at  the  Louvre,  previous  to 
the  departure  of  the  King  for  Chantilly,  whither 
Louis  was  going  to  spend  the  month  of  August, 
in  high  dudgeon  that  the  remonstrance  of  his 
minister  had  prevented  him  from  superintending 
in  person  the  siege-works  before  La  Capelle.  After 
giving  certain  explanations  relative  to  the  pro- 
gress of  the  campaign  in  Picardy,  Richelieu 
suddenly  rose  and  denounced  the  secret  intelli- 
gences between  Anne  of  Austria,  the  King  of 
Spain,  and  the  Cardinal  Infant  governor  of  the 
Low  Countries.  "  Sire,  we  have  arrived  at  that 
period  of  national  calamity  when  the  treasonable 
relations  of  a  queen  of  France  with  the  enemy 
must  be  arrested.  Her  Majesty,  I  have  reason  to 
believe,  has  made  important  political  disclosures, 
the  proofs  of  which  exist  in  the  convent  of  the  Val 
de  Grace."  Richelieu  then  accused  the  Queen  of 
illicit  correspondence  with  Madame  de  Chevreuse, 
with  Mirabel,  late  Ambassador  of  Spain  at  the 
court  of  France,  with  the  Spanish  ministers  in 
London  and  Brussels,  with  the  Queen  Marie  de' 
Medici,  and  with  the  Queen  of  England,  whom 
she  had  perniciously  exhorted  to  make  innova- 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  855 

tions  in  religion  highly  displeasing  to  Charles  I., 
under  the  delusive  hope  that  Spain  would  inter- 
pose to  put  down  seditious  risings  in  Britain.20 
The  sensation  excited  by  the  Cardinal's  discourse 
was  acute  enough  to  satisfy  his  anticipations  ;  the 
council  clamoured  that  investigations  should  be 
instituted  into  an  affair  which  so  nearly  concerned 
the  national  honour  and  the  military  renown  of 
France !  The  King,  informed  beforehand  of 
Anne's  misdemeanours,  listened  in  sullen. wrath, 
and  empowered  his  ministers  to  make  all  pre- 
paratory arrests  and  examinations  for  the  eluci- 
dation of  the  business. 

44  There  is  already  sufficient  evidence  for  the 
arrest  and  arraignment  of  the  Queen  on  a  charge 
of  high  treason,"  exclaimed  the  Chancellor 
Seguier.  "  Such  a  process,  however,  would  shake 
the  prestige  of  the  monarch  and  degrade  the  royal 
dignity.  I  put  to  you,  therefore,  Sire,  whether  it 
will  not  be  better  to  avoid  so  cruel  an  extremity 
and  to  exact  instead  from  the  Queen  Infanta  a 
plenary  confession,  and  to  compel  the  accept- 
ance of  pledges  which  hereafter  shall  suffice  to 
prevent  future  correspondence  ?  "  21 

The  moderate  advice  of  Seguier  met  with 
applause  and  with  protestations  from  the  Car- 
dinal minister  44  that  his  fealty  to  the  state  sur- 
passed only  his  reverence  for  her  Majesty."  The 
Chancellor  was  then  commanded  by  the  King  to 
make  the  necessary  perquisition  into  the  affair 
14  without  favour  or  dread  "  ;  and  a  mandate  was 
addressed  by  Louis  to  the  Archbishop  of  Paris, 


356  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

directing  and  requiring  him  to  grant  every 
facility  for  the  investigation  requisite  in  the 
nunnery  of  Val  de  Grace  which  was  under  his 
jurisdiction.  Lastly,  a  lettre  de  cachet  was  signed 
by  the  King  decreeing  the  arrest  and  transfer  of 
Pierre  la  Porte  to  the  fortress  of  the  Bastille.22 

The  Queen,  meantime,  unconscious  of  the  gulf 
yawning  at  her  feet,  had  been  present  a  few  days 
previously  at  the  profession  of  Louise  Angelique 
de  la  Fayette  in  the  nunnery  of  the  Visitandines. 
Louis,  overwhelmed  with  grief  at  this  separation, 
had  exhausted  his  powers  of  persuasion  to  induce 
la  Fayette  to  reconsider  her  resolve.  He  accused 
the  Cardinal  of  using  menace  to  hasten  this  deter- 
mination, and  one  day  Louis  suddenly  returned 
from  Fontainebleau  to  Paris,  after  the  reception 
of  a  letter  from  Louise  in  which  she  expressed 
some  apprehension  of  the  Cardinal's  violence. 
"If  M.  le  Cardinal  causes  Mademoiselle  de  la 
Fayette  to  be  abducted  and  carried  into  Auvergne, 
as  he  once  threatened,  I  swear  that  I  will  fetch  her 
thence  in  the  very  teeth  of  the  Lord  Cardinal  and 
of  all  the  devils  in  his  train ! " 23  "  Sire,"  ex- 
claimed la  Fayette,  "  cease  to  urge  me.  I  have 
vowed  allegiance  to  a  higher  Potentate  than  your- 
self. Let  me  become  His  faithful  subject."  *4 
The  sermon  on  the  profession  of  la  Fayette  was 
preached  by  Caussin,  who  was  moved  to  tears  as 
he  contemplated  the  fair  young  girl  about  to  be 
sacrificed  to  a  court  intrigue.  The  Queen  threw 
the  black  veil  over  the  head  of  la  Fayette,  who 
wept  without  ceasing  throughout  the  ceremony. 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  357 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  service  Anne  retired  to 
the  abbess's  parlour  and  sent  for  Caussin.  Her 
Majesty  then,  after  a  touching  allusion  to  the 
scene  which  they  had  just  witnessed,  said  that 
her  conscience  obliged  her  to  remark  to  the 
reverend  father  that  she  deemed  it  to  be  his 
bounden  duty  to  represent  to  the  King  that  his 
people  groaned  under  the  burden  of  taxes  and 
subsidies  to  defray  the  expenses  of  a  war  excited 
and  maintained  by  the  ambition  of  the  Cardinal ; 
that  the  aim  of  the  Cardinal  was  so  to  daze  the 
mind  of  the  King  that  his  services  could  not  be 
dispensed  with  ;  that  his  ambition  and  treachery 
maintained  a  perpetual  feud  between  the  King 
and  his  nearest  and  dearest  connections  and  some 
of  his  most  faithful  nobles,  most  of  whom  would 
serve  the  realm  with  greater  ability  than  M.  le 
Cardinal.  In  reply  to  this  somewhat  officious 
address,  Caussin  assured  her  Majesty  of  his  zeal 
and  loyalty,  but  said  "  that  he  had  made  a  rule 
never  to  interfere  in  politics,  but  in  other  matters 
he  would  faithfully  acquit  himself  as  his  con- 
science might  dictate."  25 

On  the  3rd  of  August  Louis  departed  for  Chan- 
tilly.  On  the  following  day  Anne  also  left  Paris, 
not  having  the  slightest  suspicion  of  the  peril 
awaiting  her.  Anne  was  followed  to  her  coach  by 
Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort  and  other  ladies  who 
took  leave  of  her  Majesty  for  the  period  of  her 
absence  at  Chantilly.  La  Porte  was  amongst  the 
Queen's  attendants  ;  before  leaving  the  Louvre 
Anne  beckoned  to  this  individual  and  gave  him 


358  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

two  letters — one  folded  and  addressed,  the  other 
in  a  blank  envelope  and  unsealed.  Her  Majesty 
said,  "  Carry  this  letter  to  the  post ;  as  for  this 
one,  I  will  tell  you  what  you  must  do  with  it !  " 
Anne  was  proceeding  to  give  la  Porte  the  necessary 
instructions  when  a  nobleman  of  the  court  ap- 
proached, to  wrhom  she  was  compelled  to  speak  ; 
the  Queen  then  hurriedly  entered  her  coach  with 
Madame  de  Senece  and  drove  out  of  the  court- 
yard. "  The  Queen,"  says  la  Porte,  "  made  me 
understand  by  a  sign  that  both  these  letters  were 
for  Madame  de  Chevreuse  ;  she  omitted,  however, 
to  tell  me  what  she  desired  me  to  do  with  the 
letter  enclosed  without  an  address  in  a  sheet  of 
paper,  but  I  concluded  that  her  Majesty  might 
send  me  word  the  same  evening.  Afterwards  I 
took  the  determination,  as  I  did  not  hear,  to  send 
them  both  by  a  special  messenger  whom  I  trusted 
and  knew."  28  The  Queen  had  no  sooner  quitted 
the  precincts  of  the  Louvre  than  la  Porte  was 
arrested  and  conveyed  to  the  Bastille  by  Goulart, 
ensign  of  les  Mousquetaires  du  Roi.  On  his 
person  were  found  the  letters  given  to  him  by 
Anne,  one  of  which  was  openly  addressed  to  the 
Duchess  de  Chevreuse,  a  mere  letter  of  gossip,  and 
was  to  have  been  forwarded  by  the  royal  mails  ; 
the  other  letter  was  written  partly  in  a  cipher  of 
numerals,  and  made  allusion  to  some  recent  inter- 
course of  letters  between  the  Duchess  and  the 
Duke  of  Lorraine.  The  Queen,  moreover,  therein 
refused  to  sanction,  "  as  too  perilous,"  a  project 
proposed  by  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  to  visit  the 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  359 

Louvre  in  disguise  that  she  might  confer  on  im- 
portant matters  with  her  Majesty.  The  letters 
were  both  in  the  handwriting  of  the  Queen,  and 
on  the  envelope  of  the  unsealed  letter  was  the 
sign  $,  which  La  Porte  afterwards  avowed  was  the 
hieroglyphic  by  which  Anne  indicated  the  letters 
that  were  to  be  sent  to  the  Duchess  by  "  les  voies 
secrets"  A  third  letter  was  also  found  in  the 
pocket  of  La  Porte  from  Madame  de  Chevreuse, 
which  however,  contained  nothing  particular 
except  a  request  that  La  Porte  would  remind  the 
Countess  de  Lude  to  ask  the  Queen  to  interest 
herself  in  the  prompt  settlement  of  a  law-suit  then 
pending  between  the  Duchess  and  M.  de  Chev- 
reuse. 

The  news  of  the  arrest  of  La  Porte  came  acci- 
dentally to  the  ears  of  Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort, 
who  was  spending  the  interval  of  the  Queen's 
absence  from  Paris  at  the  house  of  her  grand- 
mother, Madame  de  la  Flotte  Hauterive.  A  cer- 
tain M.  de  Guigencourt  happened  to  be  loitering 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  Louvre  and  saw  the  arrest 
made.  Being  slightly  acquainted  with  La  Porte 
he  followed  the  soldiers  and  their  prisoner  as  far 
as  the  gates  of  the  Bastille.  La  Porte  was  known 
to  be  a  confidential  servant  of  the  Queen, 
Guigencourt  therefore  hastened  to  Mademoiselle 
de  Hautefort  to  impart  to  her  the  event  he  had 
witnessed.  The  magnitude  of  the  catastrophe  was 
too  well  comprehended  by  La  Hautefort,  who, 
devoted  to  Anne  of  Austria,  cleverly  partook  in 
all  her  secrets  without  becoming  involved  in  their 


860  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

disastrous  course.  She  instantly  saw  the  expe- 
diency of  warning  the  Queen  without  loss  of  time ; 
but  as  her  letter  might  be  intercepted  or  be 
delayed  by  etiquette  from  immediate  presenta- 
tion, Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort  enclosed  it  to 
Mademoiselle  de  Chemerault,  her  intimate  friend, 
who  was  then  in  waiting  at  Chantilly,  adjuring 
her  to  lose  no  time  in  presenting  the  enclosure  to 
her  royal  mistress.  Mademoiselle  de  Chemerault 
was  not  a  favourite  with  the  Queen,  who  thought 
her  bavarde  and  coquette;  she  had  not  therefore  the 
privilege  of  early  entree  to  the  bed-chamber.  To 
attract  Anne's  attention  was  therefore  her  only 
chance  of  obeying  the  urgent  mandate  of  La 
Hautefort.  On  presenting  herself  at  the  Queen's 
toilette,  Mademoiselle  de  Chemerault  arrayed  her- 
self splendidly,  putting  the  note  in  her  bosom. 
The  Queen,  attracted  by  the  unusual  sight  of  a 
grande  toilette  before  she  had  commenced  her  own, 
looked  displeased,  and  commenced  in  a  bantering 
tone  to  rebuke  La  Chemerault  for  her  folly.  A 
sign,  however,  soon  caught  her  eye,  Anne  being 
ever  on  the  alert  for  the  denouement  of  her 
intrigues.  The  Queen,  therefore,  still  pretending 
to  rally  the  vanity  of  La  Chemerault,  approached, 
and  the  latter,  while  making  profound  obeisance, 
contrived  to  retreat,  until  a  large  mirror  screened 
the  Queen  from  the  watchful  eyes  of  Madame  de 
Senece  and  others.  In  an  instant  the  important 
missive  was  transferred  from  the  bosom  of  La 
Chemerault  to  that  of  the  Queen.  Anne  returned, 
and  with  heightened  colour  seated  herself  before 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  361 

her  toilette-table.  Soon,  however,  under  some 
slight  pretext,  she  rose  and  retired  alone  into  the 
cabinet  fitted  up  for  her  oratory,  when  opening 
the  note  she  possessed  herself  of  its  alarming 
contents.27  "  The  Queen,"  says  the  author  of  the 
Vie  de  Madame  de  Hautefort,  "  fell  back  almost 
senseless  with  alarm  when  she  had  perused  the 
letter.  Such  a  surprising  sickness  and  indifference 
subsequently  overpowered  her  Majesty  that  for 
forty  hours  not  a  morsel  of  food  passed  her  lips, 
she  who  had  usually  so  good  an  appetite."  Made- 
moiselle de  Hautefort  informed  the  Queen  that 
she  had  not  imparted  the  subject  of  her  letter  to 
Mademoiselle  de  Chemerault,  and  that  she  would 
obey  in  all  matters  her  directions.  The  Queen 
presently  sent  cordial  thanks  to  Mademoiselle  de 
Hautefort  by  La  Chemerault  for  the  important 
service  which  she  had  rendered  her,  and  begged 
the  continuance  of  her  assistance  in  this  ex- 
tremity.28 "  The  unhappy  Princess  having  no 
mercy  to  expect  from  her  consort  or  from  a 
minister  who  on  more  than  one  occasion  had 
threatened  her  with  exile  and  divorce,  believing 
herself  lost,  abandoned  herself  at  first  without 
regard  to  appearance  or  to  prudence  to  the 
anguish  and  despair  which  possessed  her."  "  Lost, 
lost !  "  she  was  overheard  to  murmur,  "  the  Car- 
dinal will  marry  his  niece  to  the  King  and  she 
will  bear  children  never  mind  how  !  "  alluding  to 
Madame  d'Aiguillon,  whom  Anne  detested  for  her 
sanctimonious  manners  and  for  her  undeviating 
allegiance  to  her  uncle.  On  the  7th  of  August 


362  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

Richelieu  arrived  at  Chantilly.  Anne,  who  does 
not  appear  to  have  made  any  appeal  meantime  to 
the  King,  immediately  sent  her  secretary,  M.  Le 
Gras,  to  wait  upon  Richelieu,  to  inquire  on  her 
behalf,  "  what  had  happened  to  cause  the  arrest 
of  La  Porte  ?  as  she  assured  his  Eminence  that 
she  had  availed  herself  of  the  services  of  the  said 
La  Porte  to  send  friendly  letters  to  Madame  de 
Chevreuse  only,  and  protested  on  her  honour 
that  she  had  never  sent  a  line  into  Flanders  nor 
into  Spain,  by  the  aid  of  the  said  La  Porte  or  by 
that  of  any  other  person  or  medium  whatever."  29 
Richelieu,  who,  owing  to  the  services  of  Seguier 
and  other  persons  who  readily  came  forward 
with  their  evidence  now  that  an  accusation  was 
made,  knew  as  well  as  the  Queen  herself  the  ex- 
tent of  her  misdemeanours,  made  no  reply  to  a 
statement  so  at  variance  with  the  truth.  The 
silence  of  the  minister  increased  the  anguish  and 
suspense  of  the  Queen.  "  Silence,"  she  observed, 
"  was  more  cruel  in  this  extremity  than  the  most 
bitter  reproaches."  Anne  knew  not  the  extent  of 
her  peril ;  she  was  ignorant  of  the  quarter  from 
whence  the  blow  proceeded,  whether  discovery 
of  her  secret  correspondences  in  France  had  only 
been  made,  or  whether  her  danger  proceeded 
from  letters  and  reports  forwarded  by  the  Ambas- 
sadors at  Madrid  and  Brussels.  La  Porte,  however, 
knew  enough,  as  she  was  aware,  to  authorise  her 
arrest,  and  she  had  reason  to  doubt  whether  his 
fidelity  and  fortitude  would  stand  the  terrible 
ordeal  of  the  torture-chamber  of  the  Bastille.  In 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA 

her  agony  Anne  knew  not  to  whom  to  turn  for 
counsel ;  she  desired  to  see  Mademoiselle  de 
Hautefort,  and  she  even  expressed  a  wish  to 
confer  with  the  Duchess  d'Aiguillon — but  no  per- 
son was  permitted  access  to  her  presence.  By 
some  one  of  the  numerous  expedients  in  which 
Anne  was  an  adept,  she  contrived  to  communicate 
by  letter  with  the  Due  de  la  Rochefoucauld  and 
with  M.  de  Puisieux,  an  ex-secretary  of  state 
whom  Richelieu  had  exiled,  to  implore  their 
counsel.  M.  de  la  Rochefoucauld  relates  in  his 
Memoirs  that  the  Queen  proposed  to  him,  in  order 
to  save  her  from  perpetual  imprisonment  for  life 
in  the  fortress  of  Havre,  which  she  felt  certain  was 
a  doom  impending  over  her,  that  he  should  carry 
her  off  from  Chantilly  and  convey  her  to  the  pro- 
tection of  her  brother  at  Brussels.30  Meantime, 
her  devoted  friend,  Marie  de  Hautefort,  was 
moving  heaven  and  earth  to  devise  a  method  of 
communicating  with  La  Porte,  to  satisfy  the 
Queen's  anxious  solicitude  to  secure  his  silence, 
and  to  inform  him  of  the  peril  of  his  royal  mis- 
tress which  might  be  consummated  by  a  single 
imprudent  admission.  "  Consternation  is  im- 
printed on  the  face  of  the  Queen,"  writes  Grotius, 
the  Swedish  Ambassador,  to  the  Chancellor  Oxen- 
stiern,  "  and  her  health  visibly  suffers.31  The  rare 
visits  which  she  now  receives  from  the  ladies  of  the 
court  announce  some  serious  complication ;  per- 
haps, at  the  suggestion  of  officious  ecclesiastics, 
the  Queen,  it  may  be  proved,  has  been  guilty  of 
some  crime,  hoping  to  benefit  the  Roman  Catholic 


364  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

faith  which  is  deemed  endangered  by  the  alliance 
of  France  with  so-called  heretics." 

Several  letters  addressed  to  Anne  of  Austria  had 
fallen  into  the  Cardinal's  hands  during  the  brief 
interval  after  La  Forte's  arrest  and  his  own  arrival 
at  Chantilly.  He  had  also  ascertained  that  within 
the  last  eight  months  La  Porte  had  conveyed  five 
little  packets  of  writing  to  Auger  at  the  English 
embassy,  sent  by  the  Queen  ;  and  that  letters  had 
frequently,  sometimes  thrice  a  week,  been  taken 
therefrom  and  delivered  by  La  Porte  himself  into 
the  Queen's  hands.  La  Hautefort,  about  the  12th 
of  August,  nine  days  after  the  arrest  of  La  Porte, 
sent  word  to  the  Queen  through  Mademoiselle 
Chemerault  whom  Anne  found  herself  compelled 
to  trust,  that  it  was  reported  in  Paris  "  that  La 
Porte,  under  the  influence  of  torture,  had  made 
important  confessions  ;  and  as  it  would  be  highly 
expedient  to  gain  some  intelligences  within  the 
Bastille,  she  had  obtained  a  list  of  the  personages 
confined  in  the  fortress,  which  she  had  sent  for 
her  Majesty's  inspection."  Anne  replied,  "  that 
she  was  too  afflicted  and  troubled  in  her  mind  ; 
that  she  could  think  of  nothing  but  her  griefs ; 
and  that  as  she  felt  unequal  to  any  mental  exer- 
tion, she  confided  implicitly  in  the  affection  and 
ability  of  Madame  de  Hautefort."  32 

On  the  Feast  of  the  Assumption  Anne  attended 
mass  and  received  the  Holy  Eucharist  in  the 
chapel  at  Chantilly.  Driven  frantic  by  her  terror 
and  suspense,  as  it  must  charitably  be  supposed, 
Anne,  while  she  knelt  before  the  altar,  sent  for 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  365 

Le  Gras,  her  secretary,  and  for  Caussin,  the  King's 
confessor  ;  and  with  the  Sacred  Elements  on  her 
lips,  she  laid  her  hand  on  the  altar  and  took  oath 
that  she  had  never  held  treasonable  correspon- 
dence with  any  foreign  potentate  ;  adding  "  that 
she  required  and  charged  them  both  to  repair  to 
the  presence  of  King  Louis  and  report  what  they 
had  seen  and  heard."  83  This  terrible  act  of  perjury 
invalidates  for  ever  any  statement  put  forth  by 
Anne  of  Austria,  and  gives  probability  to  all  sub- 
sequent charges  preferred  by  her  enemies,  show- 
ing that  there  was  no  act,  however  flagrant,  from 
which  the  Queen  shrank  in  order  to  deliver  herself 
from  peril  and  disgrace.  "  La  reine  estfausse  ;  elle 
est  perfide  et  ingrate"  was  a  plaint  which  often 
escaped  Louis  XIII.  with  more  justice,  perhaps, 
than  many  have  been  inclined  to  believe,  and 
explains  the  neglect  in  which  Louis  suffered  his 
consort  to  exist,  though  she  wore  the  crown- 
matrimonial  of  France,  and  was  the  eldest  sister 
of  the  most  puissant  monarch  in  Christendom. 

The  extreme  perturbation  of  Anne's  mind  is  not 
accounted  for  by  subsequent  revelations,  much 
as  they  damaged  her  character  as  a  wife  and  a 
Queen  ;  it  seems  therefore  almost  certain  that  the 
omnipotent  minister,  having  made  his  terms  with 
the  Queen,  suffered  enough  to  transpire  to  justify 
in  the  sight  of  the  King  and  his  subjects  the  com- 
motion he  had  made,  while  suppressing  evidence 
which  must  have  rendered  her  crime  unpardon- 
able in  the  opinion  of  King  Louis  and  the  nation. 

On  the  16th  day  of  August,  Le  Gras,  with  much 


366  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

circumlocution  informed  the  Queen  "  that  more 
was  known  by  M.  le  Cardinal  than  she  suspected  ; 
that  a  warrant  was  out  for  the  arrest  of  the  abbess 
of  Le  Val  de  Grace,  and  for  her  transfer  as  a 
prisoner  to  the  castle  of  Bussiere  ;   that  Madame 
de  Chevreuse  was  to  be  conveyed  to  the  fortress 
of  Loches  ;  while  La  Porte  had  suffered  one  severe 
interrogatory  in  the  Bastille  before  MM.  de  Laffe- 
mas  and  La  Poterie."    The  Queen  after  an  inter- 
val of  reflection  and  with  all  the  appearance  of 
desperate  resolution,  sent  Le  Gras  to  request  that 
the  Cardinal  de  Richelieu  would  visit  her  early 
on  the  morrow,  as  she  had  revelations  to  make. 
Aware  of  what  must  be  the  result  of  the  search 
about  to  be  instituted  in  her  apartments  at  the 
Val  de  Grace,  Anne  dreaded  the  wrath  and  fury 
of  Louis  XIII.  rather  than  the  indignation  of 
Richelieu,  over  whom  she  had  already  witnessed 
the  power  of  her  charms.  The  exultation  of  the 
Cardinal  was  doubtless  great ;    the  Queen  had 
been  brought  to  seek  his  assistance  and  one  link 
in  the  chain  of  her  subjugation  had  been  wrought. 
On  the  morrow,  therefore,  August  17th,   1637, 
Richelieu,  after  first  seeking  an  audience  of  the 
King  to  ask  his  permission  to  hold  interview  with 
her  Majesty,  entered  Anne's  presence.    His  Emi- 
nence was  attended  by  the  two  secretaries  of  state, 
Chavigny  and  de  Noyers,  by  his  own  private  secre- 
tary and  by  two  gentlemen  of    his  household. 
Anne  was  sitting  under  her  canopy  of  state,  look- 
ing ill,  depressed,  her  eyes  swollen  with  weeping. 
Hearing  that  the  Queen  was  unattended  by  any 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA    .  367 

of  her  women,  the  Cardinal  caused  Madame  de 
Senece  to  be  summoned,  who  took  her  place  be- 
hind the  Queen's  fauteuil.  Anne  languidly  ex- 
tended her  hand  to  Richelieu,  who,  kneeling, 
pressed  it  to  his  lips.  A  few  compliments  were 
interchanged  ;  the  Queen  then  said  in  a  hurried 
voice  "  that  she  had  sent  for  M.  le  Cardinal  to 
avow  to  him  that  she  had  written  to  M.  le  Cardinal 
of  Spain,  her  brother  ;  and  that  her  letter  had 
been  despatched  par  des  voles  secrets  to  Brussels  ; 
the  letter,  nevertheless,  contained  expressions  only 
of  sisterly  regard,  with  inquiries  after  the  health 
of  his  Royal  Highness,  with  other  demands  of  like 
innocent  import."  34  When  the  Queen  ceased 
Richelieu  sternly  replied,  "  Madame,  to  my  certain 
knowledge  other  subjects  have  been  discussed  in 
your  said  letters.  If  you  desire  my  interposition 
it  is  necessary  that  you  should  make  frank  confes- 
sion, as  I  have  assurance  from  the  King  your 
august  consort  that  he  will  pardon  the  said  devia- 
tions of  which  he  has  cognisance ;  in  proof  of 
which  I  have  assembled  the  personages  present  to 
witness  my  declaration.  If  you  have  nothing  more 
to  confide  to  my  ear  I  will  repair  to  his  Majesty 
and  take  his  royal  commands  on  the  steps  which 
his  duty  to  his  realm  may  require."  Menace 
lurked  in  the  bland  words  of  his  Eminence,  "  the 
King  promised  oblivion  for  those  misdemeanours 
of  which  he  was  cognisant."  What  revelations  lay 
hidden  in  the  caskets  of  the  Val  de  Grace  or  in  the 
breast  of  the  prisoner  La  Porte  ?  And  what  did  the 
threat  signify,  "  that  Richelieu  would  take  the 


368  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

royal  commands  on  the  measures  necessary  for  the 
welfare  of  the  realm  "  ?  With  a  shuddering  sob 
Anne  then  requested  Madame  de  Senece,  the 
secretaries  of  state  and  others,  to  retire  and  leave 
her  alone  with  Monsieur  le  Cardinal. 

The  Queen  then  confessed  all  to  Richelieu, 
showing,  according  to  his  statement,  marvellous 
confusion  at  the  deed  of  perjury  which  she  had 
committed  on  the  Feast  of  the  Assumption. 

Anne  admitted  :  1st.  That  the  letters  seized  on 
the  person  of  M.  Senelle,  and  addressed  to  her  by 
Madame  de  Fargis  during  the  years  1631-1632, 
were  genuine  and  not  forged  missives,  as  she  had 
at  the  time  pertinaciously  insisted.  2ndly.  That 
she  had  written  to  the  Cardinal  Infant,  to  Mirabel, 
to  Gerbier,  the  English  resident  at  Brussels,  and 
had  received  frequent  replies  from  these  person- 
ages. 3rdly.  That  her  letters  were  written  in  her 
private  closet,  then  given  to  La  Porte,  who  trans- 
ferred them  to  M.  Auger,  secretary  to  the  English 
ambassage,  who  forwarded  them  to  Brussels. 
4thly.  That  in  these  letters  she  had  testified  dis- 
content at  her  position,  and  that  she  had  written 
to  Mirabel  letters,  and  received  in  return  answers, 
which  would  be  very  displeasing  to  the  King  her 
lord.  5thly.  That  she  had  given  notice  of  the 
journey  into  Spain  of  the  monk  Bachelier,  and 
had  warned  them  to  open  their  eyes  and  detect 
the  private  designs  for  which  he  had  been  sent. 
6thly.  That  she  had  disclosed  to  the  Marquis  de 
Mirabel  that  a  reconciliation  with  M.  de  Lorraine 
was  talked  about  in  France,  and  had  warned 


1637J  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  369 

them  (the  Spaniards)  to  be  on  their  guard.  7thly. 
That  she  had  demonstrated  much  annoyance  when 
she  heard  it  spoken  of  as  probable  that  the 
English  were  about  to  reconcile  themselves  with 
France  instead  of  persevering  in  their  alliance 
with  Spain.  Sthly.  That  the  letter  found  upon 
La  Porte  was  to  have  been  conveyed  to  Madame 
de  Chevreuse  by  the  Sieur  de  la  Thibaudiere,  and 
that  in  the  said  letter  she  mentioned  the  project 
of  a  secret  visit  which  the  duchess  contemplated 
paying  to  her.  "  Whilst  her  Majesty  was  making 
this  confession,  her  condescension  was  such," 
writes  Richelieu,  "  that  she  several  times  ex- 
claimed, '  Quelle  bonte  faut-il  que  vous  ayez,  M.  le 
Cardinal !  '  and  protesting  that  she  should  feel 
everlasting  obligation  towards  the  person  who 
would  extricate  her  from  her  dilemma,  she  did  me 
the  honour  to  say,  c  Give  me  your  hand,  M.  le 
Cardinal !  '  and  presented  her  own  as  the  pledge 
of  the  fidelity  with  which  she  intended  to  adhere 
to  her  promises.  However,  out  of  respect,  I  with- 
drew further  from  her  Majesty  while  she  made 
the  said  protestations."  35 

Such  was  the  substance  of  the  confession  made 
by  the  Queen  and  suffered  to  transpire  by  Riche- 
lieu ;  it  was  first  reserved  for  the  ear  of  the  King 
alone  but  eventually  got  wind  at  court.  No  one 
believed  that  the  whole  truth  had  been  disclosed  ; 
and  what  was  mere  conjecture  in  France  took  the 
form  of  positive  assertion  abroad,  in  those  coun- 
tries especially  whose  secret  archives  might  have 
betrayed  the  facts.  What  passed  besides  at  this 

2A 


870  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

interview  of  two  hours  between  Richelieu  and 
Anne  of  Austria  and  on  what  terms  his  forbear- 
ance and  protection  were  purchased  can  never 
now  be  disclosed.  That  Richelieu  informed  the 
Queen  that  on  the  following  day  the  convent  of 
Val  de  Grace  was  to  be  searched  and  its  abbess 
arrested  appears  more  than  probable  by  the 
strange  fact  which  took  all  the  ministers  by  sur- 
prise excepting  Richelieu,  and  also  the  most 
ardent  of  Anne's  adherents,  that  not  a  single 
document  of  any  description — not  even  a  scrap  of 
writing  of  later  date  than  the  year  1630 — was  dis- 
covered in  her  Majesty's  apartments  or  in  any 
other  chamber  of  the  convent.  The  deposit  of  her 
papers  in  her  convent  stronghold  was  a  fact  con- 
stantly admitted  by  the  Queen  to  her  intimates. 
All  her  private  correspondence  was  addressed 
from  thence,  and  in  the  subsequent  examinations 
it  was  admitted — when  the  confession  could  do  no 
harm  by  the  proofs  being  destroyed — that  all  the 
Queen's  recent  private  letters  had  been  there  re- 
ceived, read  and  the  answers  thereto  despatched 
from  the  nunnery  ;  also  that  the  ciphers  for  her 
foreign  correspondence  were,  until  recently,  left 
in  a  coffer  standing  in  her  oratory.  The  fact 
might  have  excited  less  surprise  if  it  had  been 
remembered  that  the  abbess,  Louise  de  Milly,  was 
a  cousin  of  the  famous  Capuchin  Joseph,  Riche- 
lieu's second  self — his  constant  guest  and  private 
counsellor.  A  hint  to  Le  P.  Joseph,  after  Riche- 
lieu's interview  with  Anne  of  Austria,  might 
authorise  the  Capuchin  to  communicate  with  the 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  371 

abbess,  so  that  during  the  night  of  the  18th  of 
August  she  might  have  committed  to  the  flames 
all  documents  that  compromised  her  royal  mis- 
tress ;  or  what  is  most  probable,  she  may  by 
command  of  the  Queen  have  delivered  the  papers 
to  the  Capuchin.  This  supposition  would  corrobo- 
rate the  subsequent  evidence  of  a  poor  nun  of  the 
convent,  that  one  night  she  had  seen  the  abbess 
convey  with  her  own  hands  to  the  chapel  two 
coffers  adorned  with  the  initials  of  her  Majesty. 
Anne  afterwards  explained,  on  the  demand  of 
the  Chancellor,  that  these  coffers  contained  only  a 
reliquary  and  a  few  jewels.  So  strange  did  the 
non-appearance  of  these  papers  appear  that  all 
kinds  of  suppositions  were  invented  to  account 
for  their  disappearance.  The  author  of  the  Vie  du 
Pere  Joseph  asserts  that  the  Queen  was  supposed 
to  have  received  friendly  warning  from  the  Chan- 
cellor Seguier,  and  had  contrived  by  some  method 
to  withdraw  her  most  dangerous  papers  from  the 
convent,  which  she  desired  the  abbess  to  deliver 
to  Madame  de  Sourdis.36  This  statement  is  most 
improbable ;  in  the  first  place  the  name  of 
Madame  de  Sourdis  never  occurs  in  the  history  of 
the  Queen's  private  life  at  this  period,  secondly 
the  police  of  the  Cardinal  de  Richelieu  was  too 
vigilant  to  permit  of  the  surreptitious  withdrawal 
of  important  papers  from  a  nunnery  under  its 
especial  surveillance.  Besides,  the  Queen  evidently 
knew  not  of  the  intended  search  at  the  Val  de 
Grace  until  after  her  interview  with  the  Cardinal. 
So  carefully  was  the  secret  of  this  visit  preserved 


372  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

that  the  Archbishop  of  Paris,  who  accompanied 
Seguier  to  the  convent,  knew  nothing  of  the 
measures  to  be  pursued  until  he  found  himself 
vis-a-vis  to  the  Chancellor  in  his  coach  and  on  his 
way  thither.  Seguier,  in  the  proces  verbal  of  his 
visit,  addressed  to  Richelieu,  plainly  states  his 
opinion  that  some  friend  of  the  Queen  had  been 
beforehand  and  had  effectually  removed  all  traces 
of  her  guilt.  "  It  is  our  unanimous  opinion,"  writes 
Seguier,  "  that  some  one  has  here  given  important 
notice  of  events — not  that  the  Archbishop  is  impli- 
cated, because  Monseigneur  was  not  himself  cog- 
nisant of  any  such  intended  visit — but  we  think  it  is 
probable  that  the  Queen,  suspecting  some  inquiry 
might  be  made,  has  so  directed  the  reverend  Mother 
that  no  important  papers  should  be  found."  This 
is  not  the  language  of  a  person  who  had  been  him- 
self the  author  of  the  important  notice  of  events, 
which  he  deprecates  as  having  partially  defeated 
the  ends  of  justice.37 

To  return  to  the  interview  between  Richelieu 
and  Queen  Anne  at  Chantilly — when  the  Cardinal 
took  leave  Anne  remained  alone,  apparently  con- 
vulsed with  sorrow.  His  Eminence  then  sought 
the  presence  of  the  King,  who  waited  with  extreme 
impatience  to  hear  the  result  of  the  interview. 
Louis  pursued  the  affair  with  extraordinary  ar- 
dour ;  he  insisted  upon  perusing  every  deposition 
made,  the  reports  of  the  Chancellor  and  other 
officers  of  the  Crown  were  submitted  to  his  inspec- 
tion, and  it  was  evident  that  his  Majesty  ex- 
pected and  probably  wished  to  obtain  revelations 


1637J  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  378 

of  the  last  importance.  The  Cardinal  repeated 
the  admissions  made  by  Anne,  but  remarked 
that  the  Queen's  fault,  though  doubtless  grave, 
was,  he  trusted,  not  unpardonable.  He  ventured 
therefore  to  ask  the  royal  clemency  on  her  behalf. 
Louis  sullenly  demanded  to  peruse  the  confession 
in  the  Queen's  own  handwriting  before  he  ac- 
corded any  grace  whatever.  Le  Gras  38  was  then 
summoned  and  sent  to  the  Queen  with  this  hu- 
miliating order.  Very  bitter  must  have  been 
Anne's  tears  while  she  accomplished  this  unwel- 
come and  degrading  task.  The  document  laid 
before  the  King,  and  amended  by  the  pen  of 
Richelieu,  whom  Anne  consulted,  is  as  follows  : 

"  UPON  the  assurance  given  us  by  our  very  dear 
and  beloved  cousin,  the  Cardinal  Due  de  Riche- 
lieu, who  on  our  prayer  came  to  confer  with  us, 
that  the  King,  our  very  revered  lord  and  spouse, 
had  commanded  him  to  inform  us  that  like  as  he 
had  aforetimes  forgiven  deeds  committed  by  us 
displeasing  and  disagreeable  to  his  Majesty — 
especially  in  the  affair  of  and  concerning  La  Dame 
de  Fargis  during  the  years  1631,  1632 — he  was 
disposed  again  to  grant  us  the  same  grace,  on  con- 
dition that  we  confess  and  declare  frankly  and 
truly  all  the  secret  intelligences  which  we  have 
holden  unknown  to  his  Majesty  both  within  and 
without  the  kingdom,  the  persons  whom  we  have 
employed,  and  the  chief  events  which  we  have 
imparted,  or  those  which  in  a  like  manner  have 
been  transmitted  to  us  : 


374  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

"  We  Anne,  by  the  grace  of  God,  Queen  of 
France  and  Navarre,  avow  and  admit  that  we 
have  written  several  times  to  M.  le  Cardinal 
Infant  our  brother,  to  the  Marquis  de  Mirabel,  to 
Gerbier,  the  English  resident  in  Flanders,  and 
that  we  have  frequently  received  letters  from  the 
said  personages. 

44  That  these  letters  were  written  in  our  closet, 
La  Porte  our  porte-manteau  in  ordinary,  being 
only  in  our  confidence  ;  we  gave  our  letters  to 
the  said  La  Porte,  who  carried  them  to  Auger, 
secretary  of  the  English  embassy,  who  forwarded 
them  for  us  to  Gerbier. 

"  That  amongst  other  subjects,  we  sometimes 
testified  our  discontent  and  resentment  at  our 
domestic  position,  and  we  acknowledge  to  have 
written  and  received  letters  from  the  Marquis  de 
Mirabel,  conceived  in  terms  likely  to  be  greatly 
offensive  to  the  King. 

"  We  acknowledge  to  have  given  notice  of  the 
journey  into  Spain  of  a  monk  of  the  order  of 
Minimes,  and  we  advised  that  a  strict  watch 
should  be  kept  over  his  actions. 

"  We  also  warned  the  Marquis  de  Mirabel  that 
the  reconciliation  of  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  with  the 
King  was  spoken  of,  and  that  he  had  better  pro- 
vide in  time  against  such  a  vexatious  event. 

"  We  moreover  own  to  having  testified  and  ex- 
pressed great  annoyance  when  it  was  supposed 
that  the  English  were  about  to  be  reconciled  with 
France  instead  of  remaining  the  allies  of  Spain. 

"  That  the  letter  taken  from  La  Porte  was  to 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  375 

have  been  delivered  to  a  certain  Sieur  de  la  Thi- 
baudiere,  and  that  the  letter  made  mention  of  a 
journey  projected  by  Madame  de  Chevreuse  who 
wished  to  pay  us  a  clandestine  visit. 

"  We  freely  and  candidly  confess  to  all  the 
above-mentioned  facts  and  voluntarily  declare 
them  to  be  true.  We  promise  never  more  to  be 
guilty  of  like  faults,  and  we  engage  to  live  with 
the  King,  our  very  honoured  lord  and  husband, 
as  beseems  a  person  who  holds  no  other  interest 
but  the  welfare  of  his  royal  person  and  realm.  In 
witness  of  which  we  sign  this  present  with  our  own 
hand  and  cause  it  to  be  countersigned  by  our 
private  counsellor  and  secretary  and  keeper  of 
our  privy  seal. 

"  Done  at  Chantilly,  this  17th  day  of  August, 
1637. 

(Signed)  "  ANNE. 
"  LE  GRAS."  39 

This  document  Anne's  secretary  conveyed  to 
Richelieu,  who  presented  it  to  King  Louis,  assur- 
ing his  Majesty  that  he  believed  the  Queen  had 
candidly  confessed  the  truth,  as  La  Porte  had 
undergone  already  two  rigid  interrogatories  and 
had  revealed  nothing.  He  therefore  advised  him 
to  grant  the  Queen  pardon  for  the  misdeeds  of 
which  she  had  made  written  confession.  Louis 
consented,  which  fact  demonstrates  the  extra- 
ordinary influence  exercised  over  the  King's  mind 
by  his  minister — as  he  was  induced  so  to  do  with- 
out waiting  for  the  report  of  the  search  at  the  Val 


376  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

de  Grace,  or  for  the  result  of  the  examination  of 
the  abbess,  Louise  de  Milly.  That  the  King  con- 
sidered his  pardon  as  a  mere  form,  perhaps  due  to 
the  dignity  of  the  Queen-consort,  is  evident,  as 
after  this  document  was  signed  Louis  commanded 
the  investigation  into  Anne's  conduct  and  her 
correspondence  to  be  pursued  with  increased 
rigour.  The  additional  revelations  which  came  to 
the  King's  knowledge  were  severely  punished  by 
him  without  regard  to  this  absolution,  and  there 
is  little  doubt  that  if  the  various  proces  verbaux 
had  not  been  toned  down  or  suppressed  by  the 
Cardinal,  and  the  Queen's  letters  in  the  Val  de 
Grace  totally  abstracted,  that  Louis  would  have 
proceeded  with  rigour  to  punish  Anne's  infidelity. 
The  form  of  the  King's  letter  of  pardon  ran  thus  : 

"  AFTER  having  perused  the  frank  confession 
which  the  Queen  our  dear  spouse  has  made  of  all 
that  has  lately  displeased  us  in  her  conduct,  and 
on  the  assurance  which  she  gives  us  that  she  will 
for  the  future  conduct  herself  as  her  duty  to  us 
and  to  our  realm  commands — we  declare,  that  we 
pardon  and  obliterate  from  our  mind  the  said 
past  events  and  promise  in  accordance  to  live 
with  her  as  a  good  king  and  husband  should  do. 
In  witness  of  which  we  sign  the  present,  and 
cause  it  to  be  countersigned  by  one  of  our  privy 
counsellors  and  secretaries  of  state.  Done  at 
Chantilly,  this  17th  day  of  August,  1637. 

(Signed)  "  Louis. 

"  BOUTHILLIER."  40 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  377 

Louis,  accompanied  by  the  Cardinal,  then  pro- 
ceeded to  the  Queen's  apartment.  Anne  rose 
and  threw  herself  at  the  King's  feet,  craving  his 
pardon.  Louis  coldly  laid  before  her  Majesty  her 
confession,  with  his  pardon  appended  thereto, 
saying  :  "  All  this,  Madame,  that  you  have  here 
confessed  would  not,  as  you  are  aware,  be  par- 
doned in  Spain  ;  nevertheless  I  am  willing  to 
forgive  all  that  you  have  so  far  avowed.  It  is  my 
pleasure,  however,  that  for  the  future  you  show 
to  Madame  de  Senece  and  cause  her  to  peruse  any 
future  letters  you  send  abroad  !  "  "  Sire,"  replied 
the  Queen,  "  I  never  can  extinguish  the  love 
which  I  bear  towards  my  brothers,  nevertheless, 
for  the  future  I  will  learn  so  to  demonstrate  my 
affection  as  to  commit  no  infidelity  or  trans- 
gression against  your  realm  !  "  41 

Seguier,  meantime,  accompanied  by  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Paris,  by  the  two  secretaries  of  state, 
Chavigny  and  De  Noyers  and  by  the  M.  de  la 
Potherye,  suddenly  appeared  before  the  gates  of 
the  Val  de  Grace  and  demanded  admission  de  par 
le  Roy.  A  guard  of  soldiers  surrounded  the 
convent,  and  archers  penetrated  even  into  the 
interior  of  the  house.  Seguier  assembled  the  com- 
munity in  the  refectory,  where  the  Archbishop 
opened  the  proceedings  by  pronouncing  a  solemn 
excommunication  against  the  abbess  or  any 
member  of  the  sisterhood  who  should  equivocate, 
conceal  or  suppress  the  truth  relative  to  the 
grievous  scandal  which  had  caused  the  visit  of  M. 
le  Chancelier.  The  abbess  was  then  arrested  and 


378  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

conveyed  a  prisoner  to  her  cell  by  seven  soldiers 
of  the  guard.  The  prioress  likewise  suffered  the 
same  indignity,  but  was  ordered  by  Seguier  to 
point  out  the  chests,  coffers  and  closets  where 
papers  were  stored,  and  to  attend  him  during  his 
search.  The  nuns  remained  in  the  refectory,  at 
the  door  of  which  soldiers  were  stationed.  Seguier 
first  demanded  to  be  led  to  the  Queen's  apart- 
ments. A  rigid  examination  then  took  place — 
every  closet,  desk,  drawer  and  chest  was  rifled. 
In  a  small  recess  to  the  right  of  the  altar  a  number 
of  letters  were  seized,  but  they  proved  to  be 
papers  of  no  consequence  in  the  present  inquiry, 
but  were  epistles  received  in  the  year  1630  by  her 
Majesty,  chiefly  from  Madame  de  Chevreuse.  A 
small  leather  coffer  was  found  locked,  which 
upon  being  eagerly  opened  contained  only  gloves 
de  peau  (TAngleterre,  with  a  little  friendly  note 
from  Queen  Henrietta  Maria.  In  the  coffer  with- 
in which  so  many  discoveries  were  expected,  and 
where  the  Queen's  clandestine  correspondence  was 
placed  by  the  abbess,  nothing  was  found  but 
scourges  and  "  disciplines  "  of  various  degrees 
of  severity.  The  chapel,  the  oratory  and  the 
private  cell  of  the  abbess  were  next  searched,  but 
nothing  was  discovered.  The  abbess  was  then 
led  into  the  awful  presence  of  Seguier  to  suffer  the 
ordeal  of  a  first  interrogatory,  and  to  hear  the 
reading  of  the  decree  of  her  banishment  and 
probable  deposition  from  her  abbatial  dignity. 
The  narrative  is  thus  vividly  given  by  Seguier 
himself  in  a  despatch  to  his  chief,  Richelieu  : 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  379 

"  The  nuns  of  the  Val  de  Grace  appeared  to  be  in 
great  consternation  at  the  orders  which  they  re- 
ceived. The  mother  abbess  seemed  amazed. 
We  judged,  nevertheless,  that  some  one  had  given 
them  notice  of  our  intended  visitation — not  of  the 
visit  of  the  Archbishop,  as  Monseigneur  was  not 
himself  cognisant  of  such  a  visit — but  it  is  our 
opinion  that  the  Queen,  suspecting  something, 
warned  the  abbess,  who  took  care  that  we  should 
find  no  papers.  The  letters  which  we  brought 
away  are  all  written  in  the  year  1630.  Nothing 
here  shows  that  the  Queen  has  since  corresponded. 
Nothing  can  have  been  abstracted  since  we  took 
possession  of  the  convent ;  a  guard  was  placed 
over  the  Queen's  apartments  whilst  we  examined 
the  cell  of  the  abbess.  The  said  superior  wished 
to  appear  indisposed,  she  said  that  she  was 
feverish  and  ill.  The  doctor,  however,  whose 
advice  we  took,  stated  that  she  had  no  fever  be- 
yond that  excited  by  the  events  of  the  day.  This 
said  abbess  is  very  wily  ;  she  is  a  native  born  of 
Franche  Comte.  After  the  oaths  which  we  ad- 
ministered she  must  be  very  subtle  and  advised 
if  she  has  not  told  the  truth.  The  Archbishop 
solemnly  excommunicated  her  unless  she  con- 
fessed all,  and  declared  her  incapable  of  being 
absolved  therefrom  ;  she  then  took  oath  on  the 
Holy  Eucharist — which  is  the  most  stringent 
oath  that  we  could  administer.  She  testifies  the 
strongest  affection  for  the  Queen  and  denies 
everything.  She  says  that  her  Majesty  has  been 
wickedly  accused  of  many  false  things,  but  she  is 


380  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

a  just  and  virtuous  princess.  When  she  was 
leaving  the  convent  she  said  that  God  would 
avenge  her  for  the  cruelty  and  injustice  under 
which  she  suffered,  and  that  wrong  could  not 
last  for  ever.  Her  community  was  reluctant  to 
permit  her  to  leave  :  there  was,  however,  no 
resistance,  but  perfect  obedience  to  the  mandate 
of  the  King — so  much  so,  that  such  submission  is 
rarely  met  with  in  other  convents.  All  the  nuns 
of  the  community  offered  to  attend  her."  " 

The  unfortunate  abbess  was  placed  in  a  coach 
surrounded  by  a  guard,  and  conveyed  to  the 
Castle  of  Bussiere  ;  there  she  was  subjected  to 
rigorous  imprisonment,  being  debarred  for  many 
weeks  from  taking  the  air  and  from  communica- 
tion with  her  relatives. 

Richelieu  had  prescribed  the  points  on  which 
the  examination  at  the  Val  de  Grace  was  to  turn, 
which  had  been  signified  in  writing  by  De  Noyers. 
Anne's  confession  was  cleverly  made  the  basis  of 
all  future  inquiry,  and,  as  it  seems,  the  aim  of  the 
examinations  which  ensued  was  rather  to  confirm 
her  assertions  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  King 
than  to  elicit  further  discovery.  Her  Majesty, 
however,  in  her  confession  of  the  17th  of  August, 
had  made  no  mention  of  the  abbess  of  the  Val  de 
Grace.  On  the  very  morning  therefore  of  the 
domiciliary  visit  to  the  convent,  Richelieu  hastily 
sought  an  interview  with  the  Queen  and  ex- 
tracted from  her  further  admissions,  which  Anne 
gave  thus,  under  her  own  sign-manual,  and  sent 
by  Le  Gras  to  the  minister  : 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  381 

"  The  Queen  has  commanded  me  further  to 
inform  Monseigneur  1'Eminentissime,  Cardinal 
Due  de  Richelieu,  as  follows  : 

"  That  she  confesses  to  have  given  a  cipher  to 
La  Porte,  to  use  in  his  correspondence  with  the 
Marquis  de  Mirabel,  in  order  that  he  might  write 
to  the  said  Marquis  the  items  mentioned  in  her 
declaration  of  the  17th  day  of  this  month,  and 
that  the  said  La  Porte  returned  to  her  said 
Majesty  the  cipher,  which  the  Queen  burnt. 

"  That  her  Majesty  knows  that  the  Duke  de 
Lorraine  sent  an  envoy  to  Madame  de  Chevreuse, 
but  she  is  not  aware  whether  it  was  to  treat  con- 
cerning public  or  private  affairs — her  Majesty 
not  wishing  or  intending  to  accuse  Madame  de 
Chevreuse  in  this  matter,  but  she  leaves  it  to  La 
Porte  to  confess  what  he  may  know  of  the  affair. 

"It  is  true  that  Madame  de  Chevreuse  visited 
her  Majesty  twice  in  the  Val  de  Grace  during  her 
second  exile  to  Dampierre  ;  she  also  owns  to  have 
received  letters  from  the  said  Dame  de  Chevreuse 
at  the  said  Val  de  Grace.  Moreover,  quite  recently, 
a  man  was  sent  to  convey  news  of  Madame  de 
Chevreuse  to  the  Queen  when  at  the  Val  de 
Grace. 

"  That  her  Majesty  wrote  many  times  from  the 
Val  de  Grace  to  Madame  de  Chevreuse  before  the 
outbreak  of  the  war. 

'  That  the  Chevalier  de  Montagu  visited  her 
Majesty  once  at  the  Val  de  Grace,  where  also 
she  received  several  letters  from  the  said  lord, 
sent  through  Auger  ;  the  said  letters  being  only 


382  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

complimentary  effusions.     Letters  also  were  sent 
by  Montagu  for  Madame  de  Chevreuse. 

"  That  when  the  Queen  was  at  Lyons  and 
wrote  to  the  abbess  of  Val  de  Grace  to  forward 
letters  in  the  words,  '  Give  these  to  your  relative,' 
her  Majesty  thereby  meant  to  say,  '  Send  these 
letters  to  Madame  de  Chevreuse.'  ' 

The  King's  assertion  to  La  Hautefort,  "  that 
the  Queen  was  a  traitor  to  her  friends,"  seems 
rather  confirmed  by  Anne's  gratuitous  statements 
relative  to  her  devoted  friend  the  Duchess  de 
Chevreuse.  From  these  last  admissions  Riche- 
lieu framed  his  instructions  to  his  examiners  at 
Val  de  Grace,  and  for  the  personages  whom  he 
was  about  to  despatch  to  interrogate  Madame 
de  Chevreuse.  The  Cardinal  doubtless  wished 
to  have  all  the  high  personages  concerned  at  his 
mercy,  though  perhaps  he  might  not  choose  to 
submit  them  all  to  that  of  King  Louis. 

"  INSTRUCTIONS  GIVEN  UNDER  THE  HAND  OF  M. 
DE  NOYERS,  FOR  THE  EXAMINATION  OF  THE 
ABBESS  OF  LE  VAL  DE  GRACE.44 

"  The  Queen  has  confessed  that  when  she 
directed  the  abbess  thus — '  Donnez  cette  lettre  a 
votre  parente,'  that  she  meant  to  indicate  the 
Duchess  de  Chevreuse. 

"  That  she  often  wrote  from  the  Val  de  Grace 
to  persons  in  Spain  when  the  Marquis  de  Mirabel 
was  in  Paris. 

"  That  she  has  confided  to  the  care  of  the 
abbess  two  reliquaries  and  some  jewels. 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  383 

"  These  three  confessions  cannot  comprehend 
all,  therefore  it  will  be  necessary  to  put  the 
following  queries  to  the  abbess  Louise  de  Milly  : 

"  Inquire  of  the  said  abbess  if  the  Queen  never 
wrote  in  her  convent  ?  Ask  her  also  whether  the 
Queen  wrote  during  the  residence  of  the  Marquis 
de  Mirabel  in  Paris  ?  and  how  often  and  to  whom  ? 
And  what  the  direction  meant  on  one  of  the  letters 
— c  Donnez  cette  lettre  a  votre  parente  '  ? 

"  If  the  said  abbess  persists  in  saying  that  she 
was  to  give  the  letter  to  one  of  her  own  relatives 
and  not  to  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  a  fresh  oath  is 
to  be  administered  to  her  and  she  is  to  be  again 
exhorted  to  speak  the  truth.  If  she  continues  to 
persist  in  her  assertion  it  is  to  be  represented  to 
her  how  miserable  and  degraded  is  her  perjured 
state,  seeing  that  the  Queen  has  confessed  quite 
the  contrary  to  the  King,  allowing  that  while 
the  Marquis  de  Mirabel  was  here  she  often  wrote 
letters  from  the  Val  de  Grace  addressed  to  per- 
sonages in  Spain  and  Flanders,  and  confessing 
that  the  words,  4  Donnez  cette  lettre  a  votre  parente? 
were  meant  to  designate  Madame  de  Chevreuse. 

"  You  will  then  take  notice  whether  the  said 
abbess  contradicts  her  Majesty's  assertion  or 
confirms  it. 

"  She  is  then  to  be  asked  whether  the  Queen 
has  confided  to  her  care  any  papers,  packets, 
ciphers  or  other  things  ?  If  she  denies  that  such 
is  the  fact  another  oath  is  to  be  administered, 
then  if  she  still  persists  in  her  assertion  she  is  to 
be  told  that  the  Queen  admits  to  have  confided  to 


384  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

her   care   a   large   and   a     small     reliquary   and 
jewels." 

Furnished  with  these  instructions  commis- 
sioners were  sent  down  to  Bussiere  to  interrogate 
the  abbess  for  the  second  time,  August  28th. 
She  then  confessed  that  the  Queen  had  often 
written  letters  in  her  convent  though  she  knew  not 
to  whom  they  were  addressed,  that  Madame  de 
Chevreuse  went  under  the  sobriquet  of  sa  parente, 
that  she  knew  nothing  of  the  Queen's  employ- 
ment when  at  the  convent,  but  she  received  her 
Majesty  at  the  portal  of  the  convent,  led  her  through 
the  grille  and  to  the  door  of  her  private  parlour, 
that  she  had  no  acquaintance  with  La  Porte, 
that  she  had  received  the  two  reliquaries  in  trust 
for  the  Queen,  both  of  which  might  be  found  at 
the  convent — also  the  jewels,  which  Madame  de 
la  Flotte  could  identify,  that  she  had  spoken  the 
truth,  that  the  Queen  had  often  written  from  the 
Val  de  Grace  but  had  not  informed  the  abbess  of 
the  contents  of  her  letters,  and  that  all  letters 
sent  from  the  convent  had  been  asked  for  in  the 
name  of  the  Duchess  de  Chevreuse.46 

The  interrogatories  put  to  La  Porte  in  the 
Bastille  were  of  much  the  same  character,  and 
referred  rather  to  the  Queen's  clandestine  corre- 
spondence seven  years  back  than  to  the  present 
charges  against  her.  The  devotion  manifested 
by  La  Porte  was  heroic,  and  ought  to  have  been 
put  forth  in  a  better  cause.  He  avowed  that  he 
had  carried  letters  to  and  from  the  Val  de  Grace 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  385 

to  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  but  vehemently 
denied  that  the  Queen  had  foreign  correspond- 
ents, or  that  he  had  holden  intercourse  in  her 
behalf  with  the  foes  of  France.  His  cool  self- 
possession  never  varied.  Nothing  could  be  ex- 
tracted damaging  to  the  reputation  of  the  Queen 
or  of  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  except  that  in 
defiance  of  the  royal  prohibition  they  corre- 
sponded and  sometimes  used  numerals  as  a  cipher. 
His  first  interrogatory  occurred  on  the  13th  of 
August.  All  that  was  obtained  from  La  Porte  in 
the  way  of  avowal  was  that  the  figure  2  in  the 
letter  found  in  his  pocket  meant  the  Queen,  the 
number  3,  M.  le  Cardinal,  19,  Madame  de  Chev- 
reuse, 15,  M.  de  Montbazon,  &c.  His  second 
examination  took  place  on  the  14th  of  August, 
and  again  La  Porte  obstinately  denied  that  the 
Queen  had  any  foreign  correspondents  as  far  as  he 
knew,  all  that  he  could  testify  to — were  letters 
of  the  year  1630  addressed  to  Madame  de  Chev- 
reuse, and  the  two  letters  taken  from  him  which 
were  intended  for  the  same  noble  lady.  By  the 
command  of  the  King,  whose  suspicions  were 
excited  by  the  discrepancy  between  La  Porte's 
statements  and  the  Queen's  confession,  Anne's 
apartments  in  the  Louvre  were  examined. 
Seguier  was  also  commanded  to  search  the  hotel 
de  Chevreuse,  and  to  bring  every  paper  found 
therein  or  in  the  Louvre  direct  to  the  King.  The 
result  was  the  capture  of  a  few  more  letters  of 
ancient  date,  both  in  the  handwriting  of  the 
Queen  and  of  the  Duchess,  in  which  the  Cardinal 


386  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

was  very  hardly  treated  by  both.  As  it  was 
evident  that  Anne  had  not  avowed  all  her  deal- 
ings with  the  foes  of  France,  when  through  the 
Cardinal  she  obtained  pardon,  but  on  the  contrary 
had  afterwards  made  fresh  revelations,  Louis  re- 
solved that  she  should  undergo  a  fresh  examina- 
tion before  the  Chancellor  Pierre  de  Seguier,  the 
point  especially  to  be  elicited  being  what  had 
become  of  the  correspondence  known  to  have  been 
harboured  at  the  Val  de  Grace  ?  This  ordeal 
Anne  was  compelled  to  submit  to  on  the  22nd  of 
August,  but  there  exists  no  proces-verbal  of  its 
course.  M.  Cousin,  in  his  admirable  life  of  Ma- 
dame de  Chevreuse,  doubts  that  the  Queen  was 
ever  subjected  to  this  indignity  at  all,  but 
Madame  de  Motteville  and  the  famous  Made- 
moiselle de  Montpensier,  Siri  and  others  assert 
in  their  Memoirs  that  the  examination  did  in 
reality  occur.  Madame  de  Motteville,  indeed, 
states  the  fact  on  the  authority  of  Anne  of 
Austria,  in  whose  service  she  remained  to  the  end 
of  the  Queen's  life.  It  is  nevertheless  proved  by 
modern  research  that  Anne  was  never  subjected 
to  the  outrage  of  having  her  pockets,  the  bosom 
of  her  dress  and  her  farthingale  searched  like  a 
common  felon  by  the  Chancellor,  as  has  been 
universally  asserted  in  all  narratives  of  the  event8 
of  this  period.  The  scene  of  the  Queen's  humilia- 
tion was  said  to  have  been  her  apartment  in  the 
Val  de  Grace,  but  Anne  was  at  Chantilly  during 
the  whole  of  these  proceedings,  while  the  true 
revelation  of  what  occurred  on  the  visit  of  Seguier 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  387 

to  the  convent  is  still  on  record  under  his  own 
hand  and  seal  in  the  Bibliotheque  Imperiale. 
"  It  was  at  Chantilly,"  relates  Madame  de  Motte- 
ville,  "  that  this  grand  affair  occurred,  the  very 
remembrance  of  which  in  after  days  inspired  the 
Queen  with  horror.  It  was  supposed  that  the 
Cardinal  wished  to  reduce  her  to  extremity  by  his 
measures  that  he  might  send  her  back  to  Spain." 
Anne  meanwhile  continued  at  Chantilly  in 
agonies  of  suspense.  Distrusting  the  Cardinal, 
and  dreading  lest  the  torture  would  wring  from 
her  faithful  La  Porte  admissions  which  Richelieu 
might  find  it  impossible  to  conceal  from  the  King, 
she  was  almost  distracted  with  apprehension.  It 
was  besides  imperative  that  La  Porte  should  con- 
firm her  confessions,  as  much  for  the  satisfaction  of 
the  King  as  for  his  own  escape  from  cruel  torture, 
which  would  certainly  be  mercilessly  applied  by 
Laffemas  until  he  had  owned  all  she  had  declared 
that  he  knew.  An  attempt  to  communicate  with 
La  Porte  in  order  to  inform  him  what  she  had 
avowed  became  therefore  highly  important  for 
Anne's  safety.  She  had  written,  after  her  inter- 
view with  Seguier,  to  her  faithful  Marie  de  Haute- 
fort  detailing  the  course  of  events,  the  admissions 
she  had  made,  and  imploring  her  friend,  by  every 
pathetic  entreaty,  to  devise  some  means  of  com- 
municating with  La  Porte  in  the  Bastille  and 
with  Madame  de  Chevreuse  at  Tours.  Anne's 
appeal  was  answered  by  self-sacrificing  devotion 
on  the  part  of  Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort,  indeed 
there  are  on  record  few  more  touching  instances  of 


888  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

courageous  affection.  Within  the  Bastille  the 
Chevalier  de  Jars  still  lingered,  his  sentence  of 
death,  as  has  been  before  related,  having  been 
commuted  on  the  scaffold  to  imprisonment  for 
life  in  that  fortress.  It  occurred,  therefore,  to 
Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort  that  M.  de  Jars,  who 
had  already  twice  paid  the  penalty  of  a  terrible 
punishment  for  his  attachment  to  the  fortunes  of 
the  Queen,  might  be  again  induced  to  risk  his 
life  a  third  time  in  her  cause.46  With  M.  de  Jars, 
however,  Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort  had  no 
acquaintance ;  she  therefore  applied  to  Madame  de 
Villarceaux,  a  niece  of  the  late  lord-keeper,  who 
was  intimately  acquainted  with  the  poor  prisoner, 
and  was  at  stated  intervals  permitted  to  visit  him 
in  the  Bastille.  Madame  de  Villarceaux  pitied  the 
Queen,  and  agreed  to  ask  M.  de  Jars  whether  he 
could  assist  her  in  this  extremity.  Suffering  had 
made  the  Chevalier  cautious,  and  de  Jars  declined 
to  compromise  the  miserable  position  which  he 
owed  to  the  King's  clemency,47  adding  that  in 
itself  the  thing  was  impossible,  as  La  Porte  was 
incarcerated  in  a  deep  dungeon  and  was  never 
suffered  to  see  the  light  of  day  except  when 
brought  before  his  judges  for  examination. 

Madame  de  Villarceaux  communicated  her 
failure  to  la  Hautefort.  The  latter,  upon  con- 
sideration, resolved  to  incur  the  risk  of  writing  a 
letter  to  de  Jars  which  Madame  de  Villarceaux 
promised  to  carry  in  person.  The  interview  be- 
tween M.  de  Jars  and  his  friend  took  place  in  an 
inner  court  of  the  prison,  where  vigilant  eyes  could 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  389 

watch  the  actions  of  the  imprisoned  persons  thus 
favoured.  De  Jars,  nevertheless,  was  able  to  read 
the  letter,  but  again  refused  to  tamper  in  any 
new  intrigue.  In  despair  at  her  repeated  failures, 
Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort  resolved  to  accompany 
Madame  de  Villarceaux  in  disguise,  see  M.  de  Jars 
and  lay  upon  him  the  peremptory  commands  of 
the  Queen  that  he  should  again  serve  her.  Made- 
moiselle de  Hautefort,  therefore,  joined  her  friend 
early  one  morning  in  the  disguise  of  a  soubrette  ; 
over  this  costume  she  threw  a  large,  coarse  cloak, 
having  a  wide  hood  in  which  she  concealed  her 
face.  It  was  an  unusual  privilege,  that  of  admit- 
ting female  visitors  to  see  a  prisoner  in  the  Bastille 
upon  three  consecutive  days,  under  the  iron  rule 
of  the  then  captain  of  the  Bastille,  who  was  the 
elder  brother  of  the  Capuchin  Joseph,  and  still 
more  so  to  admit  the  same  persons  and  to  leave 
them  to  discourse  freely.  It  is  just  possible,  there- 
fore, that  Richelieu  might  have  been  an  unsus- 
pected confederate  in  Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort's 
project.  There  exists,  however,  no  evidence  to 
confirm  the  supposition,  except  the  extreme  im- 
probability that  Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort  and 
her  friend  were  able  to  outwit  the  minister  and 
his  Argus-eyed  jailers  at  the  Bastille  in  the  manner 
which  they  subsequently  achieved.  The  pair  on 
the  morning  of  the  26th  of  August,  therefore,  drove 
to  the  Bastille  and  on  demand  were  admitted 
into  the  little  court.  The  hour  was  so  early  that 
the  Chevalier  had  not  yet  quitted  his  cell.  Madame 
de  Villarceaux  therefore  sent  a  message  to  the 


390  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1637 

effect  that  she  wished  to  see  him  without  delay, 
as  she  had  brought  the  sister  of  his  sick  valet  de 
chambre,  who,  having  been  given  over  by  the 
doctor,  had  sent  his  sister  to  speak  to  his  master 
on  urgent  affairs.  The  Chevalier,  knowing  that 
his  valet  was  in  perfect  health,  began  to  suspect 
some  unwelcome  and  perhaps  dangerous  solicita- 
tions and  very  unwillingly  descended  to  greet  his 
friend  Madame  de  Villarceaux.  The  supposed 
soubrette  advanced  towards  him,  apparently  in 
great  distress ;  presently  she  took  his  hand,  and 
raised  her  hood.  "  What,  Madame,  it  is  you  !  ' 
exclaimed  M.  de  Jars,  aghast.  Mademoiselle  de 
Hautefort  let  her  hood  drop  and  putting  her 
finger  to  her  lips,  made  a  curtsey,  and  assuming 
the  deportment  of  one  in  her  apparent  condition, 
said,  "  You  may  well  be  surprised,  Monsieur,  to  see 
me  here,  but  vour  astonishment  will  increase  when 

J 

you  learn  that  I  come  by  the  absolute  command 
of  the  Queen."  Marie  then  took  a  paper  from  her 
pocket,  and  giving  it  the  Chevalier,  continued, 
"  This,  Monsieur,  is  what  the  Queen  has  given  me 
to  confide  to  you ;  you  are  required  to  employ  your 
influence  and  wit  in  this  horrible  place  to  cause 
that  small  paper  to  reach  the  hands  of  the  prisoner 
La  Porte  who  is  confined  here  in  a  dungeon.  I 
feel  assured,  Monsieur,  knowing  your  loyalty  and 
your  love  for  our  dear  royal  mistress,  that  you 
will  not  abandon  her  in  this  hour  of  her  extreme 
peril.  I  have  already,  through  Madame  de  Villar- 
ceaux, attempted  to  secure  to  her  Majesty  your 
aid,  without  which  I  dare  not  contemplate  the 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  391 

future."  De  Jars  hesitated  ;  suffering  had  broken 
his  courage  and  had  impaired  his  powers  of  re- 
source. Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort  perceived  his 
agitation ;  tears  trembled  in  her  own  eyes  as  she 
hurriedly  exclaimed,  "  Oh,  Monsieur  !  Monsieur  ! 
can  you  hesitate  to  serve  the  Queen  ?  Do  I  not 
run  also  perilous  risks  ?  for  if  I  should  be  dis- 
covered what  would  become  of  me  ?  '  De  Jars 
at  length  said,  "  The  will  of  the  Queen  shall  be 
performed  as  far  as  I  am  able.  I  see  no  alterna- 
tive. God  help  me  !  I  have  just  escaped  the  scaf- 
fold— and  this  affair  if  discovered  will  again  con- 
sign me  to  death — but  I  am  worn  out,  broken  in 
health  !  Say  to  the  Queen,  Madame,  that  as  I 
served  her  in  the  days  of  hopeful  youth  I  now 
devote  to  her  the  remnant  of  my  life."  48  He  then 
concealed  the  Queen's  letter  in  his  sleeve,  the 
two  ladies  hurried  from  the  prison  and  returned 
without  accident  to  the  Louvre. 

A  few  hours  later  the  King  arrived  at  the 
Louvre  and  commanded  the  presence  of  Marie  de 
Hautefort  and  of  his  confessor.  Nothing  tran- 
spired relative  to  either  of  these  interviews,  and 
the  King  after  giving  audience  to  Seguier  and 
others  returned  to  Chantilly.  Louis  was  gloomy 
and  ill,  he  was  evidently  displeased  that  no 
progress  had  been  made  in  the  elucidation  of  the 
problem  of  the  Queen's  innocence  or  guilt,  for 
nothing  could  divert  him  from  the  persuasion  that 
the  perusal  of  the  letters  which  he  hoped  to  have 
seized  in  the  Val  de  Grace,  and  the  confessions 
of  La  Porte,  would  throw  light  on  the  fall  of  the 


392  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

fortresses  of  Corbie  and  La  Capelle,  and  on  the 
treacherous  surrender  of  Catelet  to  the  Spaniards. 
The  Chevalier  de  Jars,  meanwhile,  considered 
how  he  could  best  discharge  the  perilous  mission 
confided  to  him,  and  which  he  set  about  under 
the  conviction  that  his  life  would  be  sacrificed  in 
the  attempt.  The  Queen  ever  held  the  lives  and 
fortunes  of  her  friends  cheap  when  her  interest 
prompted  a  sacrifice.  The  King  was  right  when 
he  declared  that  Anne's  disposition  wras  ungrate- 
ful and  egotistical.  La  Porte  was  a  prisoner  au 
secret,  immured  in  one  of  the  deepest  dungeons  of 
the  Bastille.  The  Chevalier  at  length  ascertained 
that  the  dungeon  of  La  Porte  was  under  the  tower 
in  which  he  himself  wras  imprisoned.  His  room 
was  at  the  top  of  the  tower,  below  were  two  other 
cells,  and  in  the  one  on  the  basement  story,  im- 
mediately over  the  den  in  which  La  Porte  lay, 
was  a  certain  Baron  de  Tenance  and  one  Reveil- 
lon  a  servant  of  the  unfortunate  Marshal  de 
Marillac.  De  Jars  commenced  operations  by 
making  a  hole  in  the  floor  of  his  room.  When  he 
had  accomplished  this  undertaking  in  the  night, 
he  \vas  able  to  communicate  with  the  inmates  of 
the  cell  below  who  were  two  poor  clowns  im- 
prisoned for  seditious  conduct  at  Bordeaux.  They 
agreed  to  help  in  the  design,  and  during  the  sub- 
sequent night  they  also  succeeded  in  piercing  their 
floor  and  in  communicating  with  the  prisoners 
below.  De  Jars,  on  learning  their  success  and  who 
the  prisoners  were,  lowered  a  small  fragment  of 
paper  on  which  he  wrote  his  object,  and  implored 


1G37J  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  393 

their  aid  in  communicating  with  the  prisoner 
below.  "  They  promised  to  serve  him,"  relates  La 
Porte  in  his  Memoirs,49  "  for  prisoners  are  inspired 
with  the  strongest  kindness  for  each  other.  The 
said  prisoners,  therefore,  made  a  hole  in  the  floor- 
ing of  their  room  under  which  was  my  dungeon, 
which  hole  they  concealed  during  the  day  by  put- 
ting over  it  the  leg  of  their  table.  When  they  heard 
my  soldier  open  the  door  of  my  dungeon  to  per- 
form some  necessary  service  in  the  morning,  know- 
ing therefore  that  during  that  brief  interval  I  was 
alone,  they  lowered  to  me  the  letter  which  they 
had  received.  The  first  letter  which  I  got  simply 
informed  me  that  a  lady  had  been  making  in- 
quiries about  me,  who  desired  to  know  what  ques- 
tions had  been  put  in  my  interrogatories,  and 
also  to  give  me  some  important  information 
which  should  be  imparted  on  receiving  assurance 
that  this  first  letter  had  reached  me  safely.  That 
I  was  to  confide  in  the  writer — who  was  a  prisoner 
also  and  the  devoted  servant  of  my  mistress,  and 
that  he  warned  me  to  confide  in  no  one,  but  to 
suspect  everybody  in  the  Bastille  except  himself. 
I  had,  however,  neither  pen  nor  ink  to  make  reply ; 
besides,  I  suspected  the  writer.  Two  days  after- 
wards, when  my  soldier  had  left  my  cell  on  his 
accustomed  errands,  I  saw  another  letter  descend 
to  me  which  reproached  me  for  not  writing,  and 
which  gave  me  some  important  hints  from  the 
quarter  my  advices  came.  I  therefore  took 
courage,  and  the  same  night,  when  my  soldier 
was  asleep,  I  softly  rose  and  placing  myself  before 


394  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1637 

the  lamp  with  my  back  to  him,  I  crushed  a  little 
coal,  which  I  mixed  with  cinder-dust,  burnt  straw, 
and  kneaded  with  oil  from  my  lamp.  Then  I  took 
a  straw  and  scrawled  upon  the  back  of  a  letter- 
cover  which  they  had  left  in  my  pocket  that  so 
many  things  had  been  demanded  of  me  that  I 
could  not  answer  the  questions,  but  that  I  had 
confessed  nothing  which  could  injure  any  one. 
When  my  soldier  again  left  me  the  prisoners 
above  spoke  to  me,  hearing  the  door  of  my 
dungeon  open,  and  they  then  lowered  to  me  a 
thread  with  a  little  pebble  attached,  to  which  I  tied 
my  letter  which  they  instantly  drew  up."  The 
following  day  the  letter  written  by  Anne  of 
Austria  reached  La  Porte.  "  I  was  then  fully  in- 
structed what  the  Queen  had  acknowledged  and 
therefore  what  facts  it  was  requisite  that  I  should 
confess  at  my  next  interrogation."  This  narrative, 
extraordinary  as  it  appears,  is  confirmed  by 
authentic  evidence,  besides  being  related  by  La 
Porte  himself.  The  plotters  were  never  discovered, 
and  M.  de  Jars  suffered  no  additional  penalty  for 
his  chivalrous  devotion.  The  question  which 
naturally  occurs  is — could  it  be  probable  that 
in  the  Bastille  itself  it  was  possible,  in  the  space 
of  four  days,  for  prisoners  to  perforate,  unknown 
to  their  jailers,  three  floorings  of  one  of  the 
strongest  towers  of  the  fortress,  to  communicate 
with  each  other  through  the  fissures  thus  made, 
and  finally  to  penetrate  to  a  prisoner  in  a  dungeon 
under  ground,  constantly  guarded  by  a  soldier,  in 
the  brief  intervals  in  which  he  was  left  alone,  and 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  395 

through  an  aperture  in  the  roof  of  his  dungeon 
without  attracting  attention  or  discovery  ?  The 
incident  seems  drawn  from  the  pages  of  romance 
instead  of  being  a  veritable  episode  of  prison- 
life  within  that  dreadful  fortress.  Anne's  secret 
moreover  was  known  by  de  Jars,  by  the  Bordeaux 
captives,  by  MM.  de  Tenance  and  de  Reveillon, 
who  all  preserved  religious  silence  on  the  event. 
That  the  deed  was  accomplished  there  is  no  reason 
to  doubt,  but  whether  the  prisoners  deceived 
their  governor  M.  de  Tremblay,  or  his  brother  the 
wily  Capuchin,  or  his  Eminence  the  Cardinal,  as 
they  fancied  and  believed,  or  that  their  purpose 
was  connived  at  by  these  personages,  is  a  point 
which  may  be  surmised  but  never  ascertained. 

La  Porte  received  his  information  not  a  day  too 
soon.  On  the  27th  of  August  he  was  summoned 
before  Seguier,  who  was  attended  by  Laffemas  and 
la  Potherye.  On  the  19th  of  August,  Seguier,  who 
seems  to  have  proceeded  in  good  earnest  with  the 
investigation,  had  written  to  Richelieu  to  inform 
him  of  the  little  progress  made.  "  La  Porte," 
writes  the  Chancellor,  "  has  been  now  interrogated 
three  times.  Your  Eminence  will  perceive  that  he 
stoutly  refuses  to  afford  any  information  on  the 
matters  mentioned  by  the  Queen  in  the  letter 
taken  from  him.  M.  de  la  Potherye  awaits  an 
order  to  proceed  again  to  La  Bussiere  ;  it  is  requi- 
site to  continue  the  process  and  the  interroga- 
tories of  the  abbess  of  Val  de  Grace.  I  have  sent 
an  order  to  Patrocle 50  and  to  his  wife  to  repair 
to  Bourges,  according  to  the  command  which  I 


396  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

received  from  the  King.  He  intends  to  obey,  but 
declares  he  is  innocent.  He  has  written  to  the 
King,  which  letter  I  send  to  your  Eminence  to 
present  if  you  should  deem  it  expedient."  51 

La  Forte's  fourth  examination  took  place  in  the 
torture- vault  of  the  Bastille.  Surrounded  by  the 
terrible  implements,  lurid  light  shining  only  within 
the  chamber,  exhausted  by  hunger  and  by  the 
pestilential  atmosphere  of  his  cell,  Anne's  faithful 
servant  was  again  summoned  to  confess  the  enter- 
prises which  he  had  undertaken  in  her  behalf. 
Falling  on  his  knees,  La  Porte  now  promised  to 
make  ample  confession  on  the  sole  condition  that 
Anne  would  send  one  of  her  officers  to  command 
him  to  speak.  The  judges  consulted  together, 
when  Seguier  desired  the  prisoner  to  name  the 
person  whom  he  wished  to  see.  La  Porte  asked 
for  La  Riviere,  an  officer  of  the  Queen's  household 
and  a  friend  of  M.  de  Laffemas — a  person  in  whom 
he  placed  no  trust,  but  whom,  with  wonderful 
dexterity,  being  instructed  beforehand  in  what 
he  was  to  avow,  he  requested  to  see  in  order  to 
disarm  suspicion.  It  so  happened  that  this  La 
Riviere  was  a  prisoner  in  the  Bastille  where  he 
had  been  consigned  for  some  trifling  offence.  La 
Porte  therefore  was  sent  back  to  his  dungeon  for 
a  few  hours  and  the  sitting  suspended.  Seguier, 
meantime,  communicated  with  the  King,  believ- 
ing that  important  revelations  were  at  last  forth- 
coming. Louis  approved  of  the  decision  of  the 
judges  and  unhesitatingly  directed  that  a  ficti- 
tious message  should  be  delivered  as  from  the 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  397 

Queen  by  La  Riviere,  whose  mission  was  to  be 
further  authenticated  by  the  important  credential 
of  a  letter  addressed  to  La  Porte  in  the  Queen's 
own  hand  commanding  him  expressly  to  confess 
everything.52    How  this  letter  was  extorted  there 
is  no  record,  probably  the    stern    order  of   her 
consort  in  person  left  Anne  no  alternative  but  to 
submit  to  this  fresh  ordeal.    During  the  night  of 
the  27th  of  August  the    same  personages  met 
again,  surrounded  by  the  same  grim  entourage. 
"  La  Riviere,"  writes  Seguier  in  his  proces-verbal 
of  the  examination,  "  being  sent  for,  explained  to 
the  prisoner  that  her  Majesty  commanded  him  to 
reveal  the  truth,  otherwise  she  would  for  ever 
abandon  and  desert  him.   The  said  La  Porte  then 
dropped  on  his  knees,  saying  that  as  the  Queen 
willed  it  he  would  confess  all  that  he  knew,  to 
wit — that  about  eight  months  ago  by  order  of 
the  Queen  he  conveyed  four  or  five  small  packets 
to  a  person  named  Auger  who  lived  in  the  Fau- 
bourg St.  Germain,  and  that  he  had  been  to  the 
same  house  to  receive  letters  for  the  Queen  which 
were  given  to  him,  that  he  denied  any  intimacy 
with  M.  Auger  and  had  never  spoken  to  him  but 
once  when  the  said  Auger  was  leaving  the  Queen's 
apartments  in  the  Louvre.  He  also  confessed  that 
the  Queen  had  recently  given  him  a  paper  which 
he  had  the  curiosity  to  peruse  and  found  to  be 
the  cipher  used  in  her  correspondence  with  Madrid. 
He  kept  it  only  one  day  as  he  was  ignorant  what 
he  was  to  do  with  it,  the  Queen  never  having  given 
directions,  that  he  knew  nothing   of   the   envoy 


398  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

sent  to  Madame  de  Chevreuse  from  Lorraine  and 
strenuously  denied  knowledge  thereof.  He  denied 
that  he  was  in  the  habit  of  carrying  letters  to  the 
Val  de  Grace  and  stated  that  he  had  attended  the 
convent  chapel  once  only — on  a  Good  Friday. 
Being  asked  if  M.  Patrocle,  usher  to  the  Queen, 
knew  of  the  late  menees  ?  he  replied  that  he  was 
not  aware  that  the  Queen  had  ever  employed  the 
said  Patrocle  in  secret  on  important  missions. 
La  Porte  added  that  he  knew  of  nothing  more, 
but  after  he  had  received  permission  from  her 
Majesty  he  resolved  to  avow  all  frankly.  That 
the  reason  he  had  before  denied  knowledge  of 
that  which  he  now  confessed  was  that  he  wished 
to  keep  his  fidelity  without  alloy  to  the  Queen  his 
mistress,  but  that  having  been  exonerated  by 
the  permission  of  her  Majesty  he  gladly  relieved 
his  conscience  by  avowal." 53  So  admirable  did 
La  Porte's  constancy  appear  to  Richelieu,  that  he 
was  heard  to  lament  that  he  possessed  not  so 
faithful  a  servant. 

The  Cardinal,  meantime,  took  the  singular  re- 
solve to  confer  privately  and  invisibly  with  La 
Porte.  Chavigny  had  apartments  at  the  Arsenal, 
in  the  garden  of  which  a  broad  gravel  pathway  led 
to  a  postern  of  the  fortress,  often  used  by  the  late 
Due  de  Sully  in  his  double  capacity  of  Grand 
Master  of  Artillery  and  Governor  of  the  Bastille. 
Richelieu  placed  himself  upon  Chavigny's  bed, 
and  drawing  the  curtains  closely  round  com- 
manded the  prisoner  to  be  brought  into  the 
chamber.  La  Porte  instantly  recognised  the 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  399 

voice  of  the  Cardinal,  a  fact  which  his  circum- 
spect and  respectful  replies  betrayed.  Finding 
that  he  could  elicit  nothing  further  by  way  of 
evidence,  Richelieu  admonished  La  Porte  in  the 
name  of  the  Queen  to  make  a  clean  breast,  and 
referred  to  her  Majesty's  late  letter.  "  I  am 
amazed,"  replied  La  Porte,  "  that  her  Majesty  has 
again  thought  it  necessary  to  command  me  to 
confess  the  truth,  seeing  that  my  various  interro- 
gatories have  doubtless  been  submitted  to  her 
inspection  by  which  she  might  perceive  that  I 
have  told  all  I  knew.  Nevertheless,  if  to  speak 
falsely  will  serve  her  Majesty,  although  it  would 
doubtless  consign  me  to  the  scaffold,  I  am  ready 
to  obey  and  submit."  54 

Richelieu  probably  was  not  the  dupe  of  La 
Porte's  affected  simplicity  ;  he  had  convicted  the 
Queen  fully  and  utterly  by  her  own  verbal  con- 
fession, under  her  own  hand  and  seal  and  by  the 
incontrovertible  evidence  of  the  papers  he  had 
openly  produced — without  reference  to  any  docu- 
ments which  he  might  choose  to  suppress.  The 
alternative  cannot  be  evaded  that  either  the 
Queen,  informed  of  the  proceedings  about  to  be 
taken  against  her,  found  means  to  destroy  her 
papers  at  the  Val  de  Grace,  or  that  Richelieu 
caused  a  surreptitious  seizure  to  be  made  thereof, 
to  be  used  according  to  circumstances  and  at  his 
pleasure.  The  painful  dismay  evinced  by  Anne, 
when  at  Chantilly  she  heard  of  the  arrest  of  La 
Porte  from  Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort,  seems  to 
be  quite  at  variance  with  a  notion  that  she  was 


400  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1637 

expecting  and  prepared  to  encounter  the  storm. 
Aware  that  no  treasonable  correspondence  existed 
to  convict  her,  she  could  have  afforded  to  wait 
tranquilly  the  manoeuvres  of  the  Cardinal,  and 
to  brave,  as  she  had  so  often  done  before,  the 
wrath  of  the  King  her  husband. 

To  restore  a  semblance  of  festivity  and  concord 
at  Chantilly,  the  Cardinal  caused  numerous  invi- 
tations to  be  issued.  It  was  necessary  to  show 
to  the  country  at  large  that  the  Queen  was  not  a 
prisoner  nor  in  immediate  peril  of  divorce  or  of 
imprisonment  for  life  in  the  fortress  of  Havre  as 
it  was  reported  all  over  the  realm.  The  King 
also  had  sunk  into  a  fit  of  morbid  gloom  from 
which  nothing  seemed  to  rouse  him,  deepened  by 
the  conviction  that  one  night,  on  passing  along 
a  gallery  of  the  chateau,  he  had  seen  the  appari- 
tion of  the  late  Marshal  de  Montmorency. 

Mademoiselle  de  Montpensier  and  her  troop  of 
young  and  noble  maidens,  her  playfellows,  were 
therefore  summoned  to  make  the  sombre  chateau 
ring  with  merriment.  "  After  I  arrived  at  Chan- 
tilly," relates  this  shrewd  young  lady,  who  was 
then  only  ten  years  old,  "  I  put  every  one  into 
good  humour.  The  King  was  devoured  with 
melancholy  and  suspicions  which  had  been  in- 
spired by  the  Queen.  The  Queen  was  in  bed,  and 
ill,  which  she  might  well  have  been  for  a  smaller 
cause  than  the  affront  which  she  had  just  received 
— for  the  Chancellor  had  examined  her  at  Chan- 
tilly on  the  day  preceding  that  of  my  arrival. 
She  was  in  the  first  agony  of  her  grief  at  this 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  401 

affront,  which  however  the  presence  of  Madame 
de  St.  George  allayed,  as  it  was  through  her  that 
the  Queen  now  determined  to  continue  her  inter- 
course with  Monsieur."  55 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  SEVEN 

1  Harte's  History  of  the  Life  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  t.  1.    Galeazzo, 
Hist,  delle  Guerre  di  Ferdinando  II.  e  III.  contro  Gostavo-Adolfo  Re  di 
Suetia,  e  Luigi  XIII.  Re  di  Francia. 

2  Harte's  History  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  t.  1,  p.  231. 

3  Equivalent  to  400,000  crowns,  as  stated  in  the  treaty  of  Berwalt. 

4  Harte,  t.  1.  Galeazzo,  Hist,  delle  Guerre  di  Ferdinando  II.  The  name 
of  the  officer  who  gave  the  mortal  wound  to  the  great  Gustavus  was 
Maurice  Falkenberg.  The  Duke  of  Saxe  Lauenburg  was  suspected  as  the 
contriver  of  the  base  assassination. — Vie  du  Pere  Joseph  de  Tremblay. 

5  Brother  of  the  Queen  of  France,  towards  whom  Anne  showed  extra- 
ordinary attachment. 

6  Daughter  of  Philip  II.  and  of  Elizabeth  de  Valois.  She  was  a  princess 
of  sagacity  and  piety,  and  was  greatly  venerated  by  her  subjects  and 
by  her  kinsmen  of  Spain.   The  Archduchess  Infanta  is  interred  in  the 
church  of  Ste.  Gudule  of  Brussels. 

7  Articles  de  raccommodernent  de  M.  le  Due  d'Orleans  avec  le  Roy  son 
Frere,  etc. — Aubery,  Mem.  pour  1'Hist.  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu,  t.  2, 
p.  232. 

8  Aubery,  t.  2. 

9  Mathias,  Count  Gallas  or  Galasso,  a  native  of  the  district  of  Trent. 
Count  Gallas  died  1646.   He  held  supreme  command  at  the  battle  of 
Nordlingen. 

10  Vie  du  Pere  Joseph  de  Tremblay.   The  Capuchin  taunted  his  patron, 
as  "  une  poule  mouillee,"  for  his  panic  ;    and  advised  him  to  show 
himself  boldly  to  the  populace. 

11  Madrid  is  a  chateau  in  the  Bois  de  Boulogne,  which  was  built  by 
Francis  I.  after  his  return  from  his  captivity  in  Spain.   The  King  used 
to  retire  there,  and  the  courtiers  spoke  of  his  Majesty,  "  comme  etant 
a  Madrit,"  during  the  period  of  his  temporary  seclusion. 

11  Aubery,  t.  3. 

13  Hist,  du  Card.  Due  de  Richelieu. 

14  M.  de  Chavigny  au  Cardinal  de  la  Valette. — Aubery,  Mem.    pour 
1'Hist.  du  Card.  Due  de  Richelieu,  t.  3.    Paris,  a  21  Nov.,  1636. 

15  Aubery,  t.  2. — Promesses  du  Roy  et  de  M.  le  Due  d'Orleans.  Signed 
at  Orleans,  February  6th,  1637. — Siri,  Memorie  Recondite,  t.  9. — Galerie 
des  Personnages  Illustres  de  la  Cour  de  Louis  XIII.,  t.  4. 

16  Aubery,  t.  5. 

17  Vie  du  Pere  Joseph. — Siri,  Memorie  Recondite. 

2o 


402  THE  MARRIED  tIFE  OF          [1637 

8  *'  Le  Capucin  missionnaire  raconta  tout  au  Pere  Joseph,  et  celui-ci  au 
Cardinal.  Son  Eminence  resolut  de  rompre  ce  commerce  ;  et  fit  com- 
prendre  au  Roi  le  danger  qu'il  y  avait  d'ecrire  clandestinement  a  un 
ennemi  de  1'Etat."  Vie  du  Pere  Joseph  de  Tremblay,  Capucin  nomm6 
au  Cardinalat. 

19  Bertrand  de  Chaux,  Archbishop  of  Tours,  whose  ignorance  and  sim- 
plicity were  the  best  excuses  for  his  aberrations. 

20  Vie  du  Card.   Due  de  Richelieu. — Siri,  Galerie  des  Personnagea 
Illustres,  t.  4. — Preface  aux  Mem.  de  Richelieu  depuis  1'ann.  1616  a 
1620. — Bassompierre,  Journal  de  ma  Vie. 

21  Proces-Verbal  du  Chancelier  (Seguier). — MS.  Bibl.  Imp.  Suppl.  Fr. 
No.  4068. — Pieces  relatives  a  1 'affaire  du  Val  de  Grace. 

22  Ibid.     Mem.  de  la  Porte,  Coll.  Pettitot. 

28  Journal  du  Card,  de  Richelieu,  publi6  en  1648. 

24  Vie  de  Mademoiselle  de  la  Fayette,  Dreux  du  Radier.    "  Le  Roy  et 

elle  se  quitterent  les  larmes  aux  yeux." 

86  Griffet,  Hist,  du  Regne  de  Louis  XIII.,  t.  3,  ann.  1637. 

26  Mem.  de  Richelieu,  t.   10.     Interrogators  de  la  Porte.     Ibid. 
Memoires. — Lettre  du  Pere  Carre  au  Cardinal  de  Richelieu.  "  La  Porte, 
lo  jour  qu'il  fut  pris,  avoit  voulu  donner  les  lettres  de  la  Reyne  a  un 
gentilhomme  qui  refusa  de  les  prendre,  feignant  qu'il  devoit  demeurer 
ici  encore  trois  jours.    La  Porte  lui  conseilla  de  prendre  conge  de  la 
Reyne  lorsque  sa  majeste  entreroit  en  carrosse  ;  ce  qu'il  fit :  et  elle  ne 
manqua  pas  de  lui  dire,  '  La  Porte  vous  doit  donner  une  lettre,'  a 
laquelle  il  s'excusa.    Madame  de  la  Flotte  m'avertit  qu'une  personne 
lui  avoit  dit,  que  la  Porte  avoit  un  chiffre  qui  servoit  a  d^chiffrer  lee 
lettres  qu'on  ecrivoit  a  la  Reyne." — Cousin,  Appendice,  Vie  de  Madame 
de  Chevreuse. 

27  Vie  Inedite  de  Madame  de  Hautefort,  publiee  par  M.  Victor  Cousin, 
Vie  d'Anne  d'Autriche  ;  Mem.  de  Motteville,  vi. 

28  Ibid. 

29  Relation  de  ce  qui  s'est  pass6  en  1'affaire  de  la  Reine  sur  le  sujet  de  La 
Porte,  et  de  1'Abbesse  de  Val  de  Grace.  MS.  Bibl.  Imp.  Suppl.  F.  4068. 
so  Mem.  pp.  352,  353,  et  seq. 

31  Galerie  des  Personnages  Illustres  de  la  Cour  de  Louis  XIII.,  t.  4. 
"  On  parle  fort  a  la  Cour  de  1'affaire  de  la  Reine,"  writes  Grotius  in 
another  despatch.    "  Les  gens  disent  communement  qu'en  voyant  lee 
lettres   qu'elle   ecrivoit  en   Espagne   par    I'Angleterre    surprises    et 
dechiffrees,  elle  a  demande  pardon  au  Roi ;   et  qu'en  presence  de  9 
t&noins,  entre  lesquels  on  compte  son  propre  confesseur,  celui  du  Roi, 
et  De  Noyers,  elle  confessa  avoir  6crit  a  Madrid  sur  les  moyens  de 
traverser  la  ligue  projectee  entre  la  France  et  1'Angleterre  ;  marque  les 
endroits  faibles  ou  le  royaume  peut  etre  attaque  ;    et  averti  le  roi 
d'Espagne  de  ee  defier  d'un  certain  Bachelier,  envoy6  en  France  sous 
pretexte  d'acquitter  un  voeu  de  la  Reine  a  St. -Isidore,"  &c.  &c. 

32  Vie  MS,  Cousin  ;  Vie  de  Madame  de  Hautefort. 


1637]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  403 

33  MS.  Bibl.  Imp.  Suppl.  Fr.  4068. 

34  The  letter  alluded  to  by  the  Queen  is  probably  the  following  on» — 
one  of  the  few  letters  written  during  her  married  life  extant.  The  letter 
is    given    as  in    the  original,  in  Anne's  phraseology  and    spelling : 
"  Hermano  mio — Sino  fuera  porque  temo  de  cansar  le,  con  mis  cartas  no 
dejaria  pasar  ningun  ordinario  sin  escrivirle  ;  mas,  no  peudo  acabar  ? 
conmigo  el  dejar  pasar  este  sin  hazerlo,  y  dezir  lo  que  he  sentido  harto 
que  ayan  venido  dos  o  tres  sin  haber  sabido  nuevas  suyas  ;  y  por  aca  se 
dizen  algunas  tan  diferentes  de  las  que  yo  deseo,  que  aunque  no  las 
creo,  no  dejare  de  da  me  grandissima  pena  ;  y  asi  le  supplico  que  mande 
que  no  venga  ningun  ordin0  sin  que  yo  sepa  nuevas  suyas  ;  y  quando  no 
me  pudiere  escribir,  mande  que  escrivan  a  Don  Christoval  para  que  el 
me  las  pudiere  dar.  Si  supiese  lo  que  yo  me  huelgo  con  ellas,  no  duda  de 
la  mercedes  que  me  haze,  que  tendria  muchiss0  cuyadado  que  no  me 
faltasen  algun  dia.   Espero  en  Dios,  que  le  podre  dezir  el  consuelo  que 
es  para  mi ;  y  que  con  esto  se  puede  haber  (sufrir)  todo  :  el  me  cumple 
este  deseo,  que  le  prometo  que  despues  de  la  salvacion  es  el  mayor  que 
tengo.  Suplico  Nro.  Senor  que  me  guarde  Hermano  mio  como  deseo." — 
MS.  Bibl.  Imp.  Ponds.  Fr.,  9241—3747,  fol.  3. 

35  MS.  Bibl.  Imp.  Supplement  Fran9ois,  No.  4068.    Pieces  relatives  a 
T affaire  de  1637. 

36  Jeanne  de  Montluc,  Countess  de  Carmain,  daughter  of  Sieur  de 
Montesquion  and  of  Jeanne  de  Foix  :  she  married  Charles  d'Escoubleau, 
Marquis  d'Alluye  et  de  Sourdis,  and  died  in  1657. 

37  Bibl.  Imp.  MS.  Suppl.  Fr.  4068.    All  these  manuscript  relations  of 
events  are  in  the  handwriting  of  the  Cardinal  de  Richelieu. 

38  The  Queen's  private  secretary. 

39  MS.  Bibl.  Imp.  Suppl.  Fr.  4068.      This  document  is  in  the  hand- 
writing of  Le  Gras,  and  was  a  copy  furnished  to  the  Cardinal  in  obedience 
to  his  mandate.  The  original  may  perhaps  be  still  on  the  shelves  of  the 
French  Foreign  Office  ;  though,  probably,  Anne  of  Austria,  after  her 
accession  to  power  as  Regent  of  France,  would  decree  the  suppression  of 
this  and  many  other  damaging  papers  connected  with  her  career  as 
Queen-consort. 

40  Ibid. 

41  Galerie  des  Personnages  Dlustres  de  la  Cour  de  Louis  XIII.,  t.  4. 

42  MS.  Bibl.  Imp.  Suppl.  Fr.  4068.    Lettre  Autographe  du  Chancelier 
Seguier  au  Cardinal  de  Richelieu,  avec  une  note  de  sa  main. 

43  Ibid.     Nouvelle  Declaration  de  la  Reine,  22  Aoust,  1637. 

44  Ibid.    Instructions  de  la  main  de  De  Noyers  adressees  au  Chancelier 
pour  interroger  La  Porte,  et  1'Abbesse  du  Val  de  Grace. 

45  Ibid.     Interrogatoire  de  1'Abbesse  du  Val  de  Grace,  du  28  Aoust. 

46  Francois  de  Rochechouart,  Chevalier  de  Jars,  had  suffered  exile  for 
his  connivance  in  the  revels  of  the  Court  when  at  Amiens,  and  attended 
his  friend  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  to  England.  On  his  return  to  France, 
he  again  imprudently  suffered  himself  to  be  drawn  into  the  correspond- 


404  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  [1637 

ence  between  Chateauneuf  and  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  and  had  been 
accused  of  carrying  Anne's  correspondence  to  Monsieur. 

47  De  Jars  was  then  a  prisoner  at  large  within  the  precincts  of  the 
fortress. 

48  Cousin,  Vie  de  Madame  de  Hautefort. — Motteville,  Mem.,  t.  1,  p.  83. 
"  Ce  fut  en  cette  occasion  que  Madame  de  Hautefort,  voulant  genereuse- 
ment  se  sacrifier  pour  la  Reine,  se  deguisa  en  demoiselle  suivante,  pour 
aller  a  la  Bastille  donner  une  lettre  a  La  Porte  ;  ce  qui  se  fit  avec  beau- 
coup  de  peine,  et  de  danger  pour  elle,  par  I'habilete  du  commandeur  de 
Jars  qui  etait  encore  prisonnier,  et  etait  creature  de  la  Reine,"  &c. 

49  Mem.  de  La  Porte  (Petitot  Coll.),  p.  370. 

60  This  Patrocle  was  a  valet  de  chambre  in  the  service  of  the  Queen, 
upon  whom  the  suspicions  of  the  King  had  fallen. 

61  MS.  Bibl.  Imp.  Suppl.  FT.  4068. 

58  "  Le  Roi  commanda  a  la  Reine  d'ecrire  de  sa  main  a  La  Porte,  pour 
lui  commander  de  dire  tout  ce  qu'il  savait ;  mais  comme  il  crut  qu'elle 
avait  ete  forcee  d'ecrire  cette  lettre,  il  ne  changea  rien  en  sa  conduite." 
— Mem.  de  Motteville,  t.  1,  p.  85. 

63  MS.  Bibl.  Imp.  Suppl.  Fr.  4068.  Dernier  Interrogatoire  de  La  Porte. 

64  Galerie  des  Personnages  Illustres  de  la  Cour  de  Louis  Treize,  t.  4. — 
Mem.  de  Richelieu. — Mem.  de  Madame  de  Motteville,  t.  1. 

66  Mem.  de  Mademoiselle  de  Montpensier,  t.  1.  Madame  de  St.  George 
was  Jeanne  de  Harley — one  of  the  ladies  once  in  attendance  on  Henrietta 
Maria,  Queen  of  England,  and  who  had  been  dismissed  by  Charles  I. 
for  her  intrigues  at  the  English  court,  and  her  noisy  querulousness  of 
disposition.  Madame  de  St.  George  on  her  return  to  France  had  been 
appointed  governess  to  Mademoiselle. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

1637-1639 

ANNE    OF   AUSTRIA,    MOTHER   OF   THE   t)AUPHIN 

THE  Duchess  de  Chevreuse  during  this  interval 
had  not  escaped  the  shock  which  was  rending  the 
court.  Neither  the  Queen  nor  her  friend,  Made- 
moiselle de  Hautefort,  dared  to  incur  the  suspicion 
of  correspondence  with  a  personage  so  distrusted 
by  the  minister.  After  her  visit  to  the  Bastille 
Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort  sent  her  cousin,  M. 
de  Montalais  to  Tours,  to  seek,  accidentally  as  it 
should  appear,  an  interview  with  the  duchess  to 
impart  the  import  of  Anne's  avowals,  and  the 
stage  which  the  judicial  proceedings  had  reached. 
M.  de  Montalais  was  also  desired  to  reassure  the 
duchess  by  a  promise  from  Marie  de  Hautefort  to 
give  her  timely  notice,  should  affairs  assume  a 
serious  aspect,  by  sending  her  a  book  of  Hours 
bound  in  red  velvet,  while  if  matters  were  likely 
to  be  amicably  settled,  a  volume  of  Hours 
bound  in  green  velvet  should  apprise  Madame  de 
Chevreuse  of  the  felicitous  news.1  Envoys  de- 
spatched in  the  King's  name,  however,  soon  waited 
upon  the  Duchess  to  subject  her  to  severe  interro- 
gatories. The  noblemen  thus  sent  were  the 
Marshal  de  la  Meilleraye,  the  Bishop  of  Auxerre 
and  the  Abbe  Dorat,  treasurer  of  the  Sainte 
Chapelle,  who  was  a  personage  known  and  trusted 

405 


406  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1637- 

by  the  Duchess.     The  private  instructions  of  the 
commissioners  empowered  them  to  apply  every 
pressure   to   extort   confession ;     if   Madame   de 
Chevreuse  denied  her  guilt  and  audaciously  defied 
their  authority  the    envoys  were   instructed  to 
commit  her  a  close  prisoner  in  the  neighbouring 
castle  of  Loches — that  fortress  of  evil  repute  for 
its  oubliettes  and  darksome  prison  cells.      M.  de  la 
Meilleraye,  who  was  a  near  kinsman  of  the  Car- 
dinal's, was  commissioned  to  assure  the  Duchess  of 
the  good  will  of  Richelieu,  who  still  acknowledged 
himself  the  slave  of  her  charms  and  her  wit,   in 
proof   of  which  M.  le  Cardinal,  being  informed 
that  her  pecuniary  circumstances  were  embar- 
rassed, from  the  narrow  income  allowed  her  by 
the  Due  de  Chevreuse,  had  sent  her  10,000  livres 
in  gold.     Madame  de  Chevreuse  laughed  in  her 
sleeve,  demurely  accepted  the  gift,  protesting  that 
she  had  nothing  to  confess  but  would  answer  any 
interrogatories  put  to  her.     Aware  that  the  letter 
had   been   seized  in  which  she  had  proposed  to 
Anne  of  Austria  to  pay  her  a  clandestine  visit,  the 
Duchess  was  able  to  return  an  apparently  candid 
and  truthful  reply  to  the  questions  put  to  her 
upon    this    subject.     "  I    protest,"    replied    she, 
"  that  in  making  this  proposition  I  had  no  other 
object  in  view,  excepting  to  pay  my  respects  to 
the  Queen,  and  to  transact  a  few  private  affairs 
of  my  own  in  Paris.     Far  from  intending  to  pre- 
judice her  Majesty  against  the  Cardinal,  it  was 
my  firm  intent  to  exert  all  the  influence  which  I 
possessed  in  his  behalf  !  ':     She  then  proceeded  to 


1639|  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  407 

eulogise  the  administration  of  the  Cardinal,  and  to 
make  great  protestations  of  future  friendship.  The 
Duchess  however  was  thoroughly  on  the  alert ; 
she  distrusted  and  knew  the  value  of  Richelieu's 
fine  protestations,  she  appreciated  the  dislike 
of  the  King  and  the  danger  to  which  she  was 
exposed  relative  to  her  correspondence  with 
Lorraine.  The  Duke  her  husband,  upon  being 
asked  whether  he  would  answer  for  her  appear- 
ance if  summoned  to  Paris,  and  whether  he 
would  undertake  to  put  a  stop  to  future  clandes- 
tine correspondences  replied  by  a  shrug  and  an 
emphatic  negative.2  Anne's  friend  meantime, 
the  Prince  de  Marsillac,3  heir  of  the  Duke  de  la 
Rochefoucauld,  had  been  significantly  warned  by 
Richelieu  to  refrain  from  visits  or  correspondence 
of  any  kind  with  the  exiled  Duchess.  His  father 
moreover  had  extorted  an  oath  that  he  would 
avoid  such  communication,  threatening  in  case 
of  disobedience,  that  which  in  the  present  temper 
of  the  court  it  would  have  been  easy  to  obtain — a 
lettre  de  cachet  to  imprison  him  in  the  Bastille. 
The  young  Prince,  in  despair  at  being  thus  obliged 
to  abandon  his  royal  mistress,  did  the  best  thing 
for  her  interests  which  he  could  under  the 
circumstances — he  communicated  confidentially 
with  Sir  Herbert  Croft  who  was  at  Douay,  and 
induced  him  to  repair  in  disguise  to  Tours.  Croft 
succeeded  in  his  mission,  and  after  two  secret 
interviews  with  the  Duchess,  raised  her  alarm  to 
the  highest  pitch  of  terror,  and  in  her  haste  to 
avoid  incarceration  at  Loches,  she  resolved  to  fly 


408  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1637- 

from  France  and  take  refuge  in  Spain  with  the 
brother  of  her  good  and  persecuted  royal  mis- 
tress. Madame  de  Chevreuse  was  the  more  re- 
solved to  adhere  to  this  resolution  upon  learning 
privately  from  the  Marshal  de  la  Meilleraye  the 
terms  which  would  insure  her  exemption  from 
arrest.  The  Cardinal  prescribed  the  cessation, 
total  and  complete,  of  intercourse  of  any  descrip- 
tion with  Anne  of  Austria  ;  her  acknowledgment 
that  she  had  guiltily  and  maliciously  incited 
Queen  Anne  to  acts  of  disloyalty  to  the  realm  and 
to  the  King  ;  and  her  voluntary  retreat  back  and 
continued  residence  at  the  Chateau  de  Milly. 
Hastily  therefore  the  Duchess  made  preparation 
for  flight ;  her  jewels  which  were  valued  at  the 
sum  of  400,000  francs — spoils  taken  from  the  un- 
fortunate Marquis  d'Ancre — she  sent  by  Croft  to 
the  Duke  de  la  Rochefoucauld  and  his  son  at 
Verteuil,  with  a  paper  by  which  she  bequeathed 
the  jewels  to  the  Prince  de  Marsillac  in  case  of  her 
death.  The  money  sent  to  her  by  Richelieu 
amply  sufficed  for  her  wants  during  her  journey. 
On  the  6th  of  September  therefore  the  Duchess 
after  undergoing  a  fourth  ordeal  before  Richelieu's 
envoys,  pretended  illness  and  lassitude  to  a 
degree  which  she  said  nothing  but  a  solitary 
evening  drive  in  her  coach  could  relieve.  The 
Duchess  set  out  unmolested  and  continued  her 
drive  until  nine  o'clock,  when  at  a  given  spot  the 
coach  stopped  and  she  alighted  in  the  dress  of  a 
cavalier,  having  managed  during  the  route  from 
Tours  to  effect  that  transformation.  A  faithful 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  409 

servant,  probably  the  brother  of  La  Porte,  was  in 
waiting  with  a  saddle-horse  which  the  intrepid 
duchess  mounted,  and  without  attendants  or 
baggage  of  any  kind,  set  off  in  headlong  flight  to 
the  frontier.4  The  coach  returned  by  a  cir- 
cuitous way  to  Tours,  and  drew  up  before  her 
door  with  all  due  ceremony,  as  if  its  mistress  was 
about  to  descend  and  enter  the  mansion.  By  this 
stratagem  the  flight  of  Madame  de  Chevreuse  was 
unknown  until  the  middle  of  the  following  day 
when  she  was  beyond  pursuit.  The  Duchess  rode 
without  drawing  rein  until  she  arrived  at  Ruffec, 
a  place  one  league  from  Verteuil,  the  magnificent 
palace  of  the  La  Rochefoucaulds.  Unwilling  to 
compromise  her  friends,  and  yet  being  in  urgent 
need  of  assistance,  Madame  de  Chevreuse  wrote 
hastily  the  following  note  to  the  Prince  de  Mar- 
sillac  at  a  way-side  hostelry,  which  she  sent  up  to 
the  chateau  by  a  peasant  boy  :  "  MONSIEUR, — 
The  writer  of  this  note  is  a  French  gentleman  who 
implores  your  help  to  save  his  life.  He  has  un- 
fortunately fought  a  duel  and  killed  his  anta- 
gonist, a  gentleman  of  rank,  which  sudden  event 
obliges  him  to  fly  from  France  to  escape  arrest. 
You,  Monseigneur,  he  hears,  are  likely  to  be 
generous  enough  to  afford  your  protection  to  an 
unknown.  He  implores  you  therefore  to  lend 
him  a  coach  and  servants  to  help  him  on  the  way." 
"  I  sent  my  own  coach,"  states  the  young 
Prince  de  Marsillac,  when  interrogated  on  the 
affair,  "  with  a  servant  named  Poter,  who  had  a 
suspicion  that  the  distressed  cavalier  was  Madame 


410  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1637- 

de  Chevreuse."  5  "  One  hundred  yards  from  my 
master's  chateau  I  met  a  young  cavalier  wearing 
a  flaxen  wig,  wrho  appeared  almost  spent  with 
fatigue.  He  entered  the  coach  alone  and  im- 
mediately threw  himself  at  the  bottom  to  repose," 
was  the  evidence  of  the  servant.  Poter  drove 
Madame  de  Chevreuse  rapidly  to  a  lone  hunting 
seat  where  she  arrived  at  three  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  and  was  received  by  one  Malbasty,  a 
trusted  retainer  of  La  Rochefoucauld.  Madame 
de  Chevreuse  rested  some  hours,  then  still  being 
attended  by  Poter  and  Malbasty  she  again  took 
horse.  She  wore  a  black  casaque,  and  doublet 
and  hose,  boots,  spurs  and  rapier,  and  her  fore- 
head was  bound  with  a  scarf  of  black  taffetas,  to 
protect  a  wound  which  she  pretended  to  have  re- 
ceived in  the  duel.  At  the  first  halt  after  leaving 
the  house  of  M.  de  la  Rochefoucauld,  the  little 
hostelry  was  full  of  people  and  she  was  obliged  to 
rest  on  a  truss  of  hay  in  an  outhouse,  and  was  soon 
in  a  deep  sleep.  So  fair  and  gracious  was  the 
aspect  of  the  sleeping  young  cavalier,  that  a  kind, 
honest  farmer's  wife  of  the  district  passing  by, 
was  lost  in  admiration.  "  Never  did  I  behold  so 
fair  and  comely  a  lad  !  "  exclaimed  she,  her  heart 
melting  with  compassion  at  the  comfortless  plight 
of  the  stranger.  "  Monsieur,  come  and  rest  in  my 
house,  it  will  be  a  pleasure  to  serve  such  as  you." 
Onwards  however,  in  her  painful  flight,  Madame 
de  Chevreuse  was  compelled  to  hasten ;  Riche- 
lieu's myrmidons  were  Argus-eyed,  and  were 
spread  over  every  province  of  France.  Once  she 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  411 

was  near  capture  by  the  Marquis  d'Antin  and  a 
band  of  bold  retainers.  Again,  when  close  to 
Bayonne,  a  gentleman  at  the  head  of  a  troop  of 
followers  rode  up  to  take  a  closer  inspection  of  so 
jaunty  a  cavalier  and  swift  horseman.  "  Par  le 
Sang-Dieu !  ':  exclaimed  the  rough  Bearnais 
gentleman,  "  if  Monsieur  were  not  dressed  en 
cavalier,  I  should  say  that  I  saw  the  Duchesse  de 
Chevreuse  !  "  "  Monsieur,  I  have  the  honour  to 
be  related  nearly  to  the  said  lady  Duchess ! "  re- 
plied the  brave  woman  with  a  laugh,  as  she 
galloped  past  waving  her  cap  to  the  Bearnais 
and  his  motley  entourage.  To  troublesome  in- 
quirers as  to  her  name,  rank  and  business,  the 
Duchess  mysteriously  hinted  that  she  was  the 
young  Duke  d'Enghien,  flying  to  escape  the 
Bastille  for  an  intrigue  (T  amour,  in  which  a  life  had 
been  lost.  At  length  after  several  weary  days 
the  bourne  was  attained  and  the  rocky  heights 
of  Irun  rose  before  the  eager  gaze  of  the  poor 
fugitive.  Flight  then  became  unnecessary,  and 
Madame  de  Chevreuse,  beyond  the  power  of  her 
adversary,  had  leisure  to  summon  resolution  and 
courage  for  fresh  enterprise,  especially  as  the 
corregidor  of  Irun,  upon  hearing  the  name  of  the 
illustrious  fugitive,  called  to  place  himself  and  the 
resources  of  the  town  at  her  disposal.  Madame 
de  Chevreuse  made  a  first  use  of  her  power  by 
despatching  a  messenger  to  Madrid,  with  letters 
addressed  to  their  Catholic  Majesties,  praying  for 
protection  and  the  loan  of  equipages  and  an 
outfit  suitable  to  her  sex  and  station.6 


412  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1687- 

The  flight  of  Madame  de  Chevreuse  and  her 
daring  defiance  greatly  incensed  the  King.  Be- 
fore she  had  crossed  the  frontier  half  a  dozen 
emissaries  were  in  full  chase  after  the  fugitive,  all 
being  the  bearers  of  pacific  declarations  from  the 
Cardinal.  The  Duke  de  Chevreuse,  roused  for 
once  from  his  sloth,  despatched  his  steward 
Boispille  in  hot  pursuit  after  his  runaway  consort. 
Boispille  came  up  with  his  mistress  at  Irun  only, 
and  was  there  treated  with  some  truths  from  her 
lips  to  convey  to  his  master,  which  led  him  to 
regret  his  bootless  journey.  The  envoy  of  the 
Cardinal  pursued  his  journey  with  more  delibera- 
tion, stopping  at  Tours  and  at  Verteuil  to 
examine  the  Archbishop  and  the  Duke  de  la 
Rochefoucauld,  on  the  causes  of  the  sudden  flight 
of  the  Duchess,  and  to  take  cognizance  of  the 
measure  in  which  they  had  been  her  abettors. 
The  old  Archbishop  gave  his  evidence,  weeping 
bitterly  for  the  loss  which  he  had  sustained  : 7 
"  The  said  lady  Duchess  called  upon  me  to  tell  me 
that  she  had  received  warnings  from  two  different 
personages  sent  purposely  to  apprise  her  that  it 
had  been  determined  to  arrest  and  confine  her  in 
the  Bastille,  and  that  a  troop  of  horse  was  already 
under  orders  to  fetch  her.  She  had  therefore 
come  to  the  resolve  to  fly  from  France,  and  that 
such  haste  was  requisite  that  she  had  no  choice  but 
to  re  tire  into  Spain."  Vignier  then  continued  his 
journey  to  Verteuil,  leaving  the  prelate  to  mourn 
at  leisure  "  the  eclipse  of  the  bright  light  which 
had  shone  upon  his  diocese."  The  loan  of  the 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  413 

coach  by  the  Prince  de  Marsillac  to  Madame  de 
Chevreuse  being  a  high  crime  and  misdemeanour 
in  the  opinion  of  Richelieu,  was  punished  by  a 
painful  journey  under  arrest  to  Paris,  and  by 
ten  days  of  imprisonment  in  the  Bastille.8  The 
President  then  proceeded  to  the  Pyrenean  fron- 
tier to  reprimand  the  incorrigible  fugitive,  but 
upon  her  promise  of  amendment  to  assure  her  of 
pardon  provided  she  would  obediently  return  to 
Tours  and  agree  to  a  sojourn  of  three  months  at 
Dampierre,  after  which  she  might  be  permitted  to 
appear  again  in  Paris.  This  grace,  however,  was 
to  be  conceded  only  on  the  distinct  understanding 
that  the  Duchess  forthwith  quitted  the  Spanish 
territory.  An  imbroglio  of  foreign  affairs  in 
Lorraine,  England,  Spain  and  Brussels,  rose  in 
grim  array  before  Richelieu,  if  he  suffered  the 
escape  from  France  of  that  esprit  brouillon,  that 
termagant  fury,  that  false-lipped  syren — Madame 
la  Duchesse  de  Chevreuse  !  When  Vignier  ar- 
rived at  Irun  the  Duchess  was  already  on  the  road 
to  Madrid,  welcomed  by  Philip  IV.  as  the  dear 
friend  and  fellow-sufferer  of  his  beloved  sister, 
Dona  Ana,  and  cheered  by  the  frenzied  applause 
of  the  people  who  flocked  in  crowds  to  gaze  on  her 
fair  face  and  form. 

Richelieu  began  now  to  tire  of  the  judicial  in- 
vestigations, and  having  achieved  his  object  he 
pressed  the  King  to  put  an  end  to  the  public 
excitement,  "  and  to  the  disgraceful  aspect  of  a 
divided  court,"  by  giving  his  final  fiats  on  the  fate 
of  the  culprits  still  detained  in  durance.  Anne 


414  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF        [1637- 

was  therefore  suffered  to  return  to  the  Louvre. 
Louis,  still  unforgiving  and  still  unconvinced, 
imposed  upon  the  Queen  a  list  of  prohibitions, 
which  as  applied  to  a  wife  and  to  a  sovereign 
princess  seem  of  unsurpassed  severity,  and  cal- 
culated to  cast  a  shadow  on  the  throne  itself. 
The  rules,  written  entirely  by  the  King,  were 
presented  to  Anne  of  Austria  by  the  Cardinal  de 
Richelieu,  whose  exhortations  doubtless  schooled 
her  rebellious  heart  to  outward  submission. 


"  NOTE    OF    THE    MATTERS    TO    WHICH    I    REQUIRE 
THE   ASSENT   OF   THE   QUEEN 

"  I  desire  that  the  Queen  shall  never  more  write 
to  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  because  the  pretext  of 
this  correspondence  has  been  the  blind  behind 
which  she  has  been  able  to  correspond  abroad  and 
elsewhere. 

"  I  desire  that  Madame  de  Senece  shall  in 
future  render  to  me  a  strict  account  of  all  the 
letters  written  by  the  Queen,  and  that  these 
said  letters  shall  be  folded  and  sealed  in  her 
presence. 

"  It  is  my  will  that  Filandre,  the  Queen's  chief 
dresser,  shall  inform  me  every  time  that  the  Queen 
writes — the  which  it  is  impossible  for  the  Queen  to 
do  without  the  knowledge  of  the  said  Filandre,  as 
she  has  charge  of  the  Queen's  writing  implements . 

"I  forbid  the  Queen  to  pay  visits  to  any  con- 
vents until  I  give  her  notice  of  my  wishes  in 
this  respect.  If  I  should  ever  rescind  this  my 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  415 

command,  it  is  my  will  that  for  the  future  she  shall 
be  attended  in  her  visits  to  any  convent  whatever 
by  her  first  lady  in  waiting  and  by  the  dame 
d'atours,  who  are  never  to  leave  her  Majesty  alone. 

"  I  beg  the  Queen  to  remember  that  should  the 
fancy  again  seize  her  to  hold  foreign  correspond- 
ences, or  to  communicate  intelligence  from  this 
country,  directly  or  indirectly,  that  in  such  case, 
she  has  agreed  to  forfeit  the  benefit  of  the  oblivion 
which  I  have  conceded  to  her  past  bad  conduct. 

"  The  Queen  will  take  notice  that  I  forbid  her 
to  see  or  to  hold  communication  with  Croft,  or 
with  any  other  of  the  friends  and  emissaries  of 
Madame  de  Chevreuse. 

"  Done  at  Chantilly,  this  17th  day  of  August, 
1637.  (Signed)  "  Louis." 

Lower  down  on  the  same  paper,  Anne,  with 
trembling  hand,  subscribes  her  humble  acceptance 
of  these  stern  behests  of  her  consort,  thus  : 

"  I  promise  the  King  to  observe,  faithfully  and 
religiously,  all  that  he  has  been  pleased  to  com- 
mand me.  "  ANNE."  9 

The  abbess  of  the  Val  de  Grace,  after  suffering 
prolonged  imprisonment  at  Bussiere,  was  deposed 
from  her  dignity  and  sent  into  a  distant  convent 
as  a  simple  nun.  La  Porte,  after  enduring  im- 
prisonment for  a  year  in  the  Bastille,  wras  released 
from  custody  and  exiled  to  his  native  town  of 
Seiches  in  Anjou,  under  the  prohibition  of  never 
quitting  the  limits  of  the  province  on  penalty  of 


416  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1637- 

a  fresh  arrest.    The  nuns  of  the  Val  de  Grace 
remained  for  some  time  under  the  ban  of  their 
ecclesiastical  superior,  the  Archbishop  of  Paris  ; 
the   rules   of  their  Order  were   restored   in   full 
severity,  and  the  fine  music  in  their  chapel  which 
had  rendered  it  the  resort  of  the  beau  monde  of 
Paris  on  high  festivals  was  suspended.     With  the 
elevation  of  a  new  abbess 10  the  sisterhood  gradu- 
ally emerged  from  the  cloud,  but  for  some  years 
the  fair  form  of  the  young  Queen  of  France  never 
crossed  the  threshold  of  her  once  beloved  retreat. 
Anne,  however,  was  nearer  being  avenged  on 
the  Cardinal  de  Richelieu  for  all  his  evil  revelations 
than  she  supposed.   Throughout  the  painful  affair 
the  Jesuit  Caussin,  confessor  to  the  King,  had 
stood  her   friend,  perhaps    not    so  much  out  of 
conviction  of    her  innocence   as   from    the   per- 
suasion that  Anne  henceforth  could  continue  to 
share  the  throne  of  France  only  by  Richelieu's 
sufferance,  and  consequently  by  living  in  com- 
plete subjection  to  his  will.     As  one  of  the  cabal 
to  promote  the  deposition  of  the  Cardinal   from 
power     patronised    by    the    Queen- mother    and 
Monsieur,  Caussin  deemed  it  his  duty  to  avail 
himself  of  the  visible  discontent  of  the  King  at 
the  failure  of  the  proceedings  against  La  Porte 
and  others,  to  arouse  the  royal  conscience  on  the 
heinousness  of  the  alliance  of  France  with  the 
German  and  Swedish  heretics,  on  the  wickedness 
of  the  attempt  to  separate  the  Duke  of  Orleans 
from  his  wife,  and  on  the  prolonged  and  painful 
exile  of  Marie  de'  Medici.     Mademoiselle  de  la 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  417 

Fayette,  now  known  as  La  Sceur  Angelique,11 
seconded  these  intrigues  with  all  her  might,  and 
spoke  with  the  authority  of  one  dead  to  the  world 
and  its  carnal  influences,  and  alive  only  to  the 
promptings  of  religion,  honour  and  truth.  From 
the  Low  Countries  the  Queen- mother  corresponded 
with  Caussin,  and  exhorted  him  by  every  holy 
inspiration  of  principle  and  right,  to  awaken  the 
mind  of  the  King  to  the  fact — that  his  person,  his 
family,  his  realm  and  his  consort  were  alike  bound 
in  the  adamantine  chains  of  a  relentless  enemy, 
whose  Satanic  ambition  had  no  parallel  on  earth. 
Caussin  even  presented  to  the  King  a  letter  from 
Marie  de'  Medici,  touching  in  its  pathetic  appeals, 
but  yet  leavened  with  a  haughty  spirit  of  defiance 
towards  her  ancient  foe.  Louis  was  moved.  He 
replied,  "  I  wish,  I  wish,  that  I  could  restore  her, 
and  bring  her  back  to  me ;  but  I  dare  not  discuss 
the  subject  with  M.  le  Cardinal.  If  you  can 
prevail,  be  sure  that  I  will  give  my  sanction  ! "  12 
Sometimes  Louis  appeared  to  yield  to  the  argu- 
ments of  his  confessor,  at  other  times  he  pleaded 
fatigue  and  refused  to  listen  to  a  word,  then 
again,  his  confessions  were  interwoven  with  ejacu- 
lations expressive  of  his  sorrow  for  the  misdeeds 
of  his  minister.  Caussin  at  length  ventured  to 
propose  that  the  Cardinal  should  be  dismissed  and 
his  place  filled  by  the  Due  d'Angouleme,  natural 
son  of  King  Charles  IX.,  a  prince  of  no  knowledge, 
firmness  or  principle,  and  who  had  passed  the 
greater  part  of  his  life  a  state  prisoner  in  the 
Bastille.  Louis,  who  loved  to  hear  his  minister 


418  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF        [1637- 

depreciated,  and  who  delighted  to  discuss  pro- 
posals which  made  clear  to  him  that  a  stroke  of 
his  pen  would  overthrow  the  omnipotent  Cardinal, 
listened  with  complacency,   and  replied  to  the 
pleadings  of  the  Jesuit  by  nods  of  assent,  but 
refused  to  commit  himself  by  a  single  written  line. 
At  this  period — the  latter  months  of  the  year  1637 
— the  Bishop  of  Mans  died,  and  at  the  suggestion 
of  Caussin  the  King  gave  the  vacant  bishopric  to 
his  sub-almoner,  the  Abbe  de  la  Ferte,  without 
previously  naming  the  matter  to  Richelieu.    This 
success  fairly  turned  the  scheming  brain  of  the 
Jesuit.    M.  d'Angouleme  one  day  asked  his  inter- 
cession with  the  King  to  insure  the  nomination 
of  a  lady,  to  whom  he  had  promised  his  interest, 
as  abbess  of  some  sisterhood  just  deprived  of  its 
chief.13     Caussin  promised  his  help,  adding  that 
soon  it  would  be  for  Monseigneur  to  confer  favours 
and  not  to  demand  them  !    Being  pressed  by  the 
Duke  for  an  explanation,  Caussin  committed  the 
folly  of  betraying  the  intrigue  afloat.    The  Duke, 
frightened  out  of  all  propriety  by  this   alarming 
revelation,  implored  to  be  excused  from  accepting 
a  position  for  which  he  was  totally  unqualified, 
adding  passionately,  "  that  the  intrigue  would  be 
defeated ;    that  Louis  never  meant  to  dismiss  a 
minister  who,   though    a  domestic    tyrant,   had 
filled  the  world  with  the  glorious  renown  of  France 
and  her  King  !  >:    "  Monsieur,"  said  the  Jesuit, 
"  you  will  ere  long  be  called  upon  to  assume  the 
presidency  of  affairs,  or  to  return  to  your  apart- 
ment in  the  Bastille."   The  Duke,  without  further 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  419 

parley,  rushed  to  the  apartments  of  Chavigny14  in 
the  Arsenal,  and  with  the  voice  and  manner  of  a 
man  who  deems  his  life  at  stake,  implored  the 
minister  to  wait  upon  the  Cardinal  at  Ruel  and 
impart  the  proposition  just  made  by  the  reverend 
father,  adding  "  that  he  had  neither  share  nor 
blame  in  the  concoction  of  so  shameless  an 
intrigue." 

Subsequent  to  this  astonishing  act  of  folly, 
Father  Caussin,  in  the  plenitude  of  his  new-fledged 
power,  took  upon  himself  to  affirm  to  the  King  his 
conviction  of  the  perfect  innocence  of  Anne  of 
Austria ;  that  her  late  persecution  was  an  egre- 
gious sin,  and  that  the  Cardinal  had  trumped  up 
the  letters  which  witnessed  against  her  to  serve 
his  own  unrighteous  ends.  Louis  listened  in  sullen 
incredulity  and  wrath ;  the  animosity  of  the 
Cardinal's  enemies  led  them  into  the  error  of 
exaggeration,  and  Louis  le  Juste  was  ever  ready 
to  set  himself  right  with  his  minister  by  betraying 
and  deriding  a  calumniator.  The  Cardinal  makes 
wrathful  entry  of  the  misdeeds  of  Caussin  in  his 
Diary :  "Of  all  the  persons  wrho  misbehaved 
themselves  concerning  the  affair  of  La  Porte,  and 
who  testified  malignant  discontent  towards  the 
government,  no  one  ventured  to  such  lengths  as 
good  little  Father  Caussin,  who  had  the  temerity, 
the  impudence  and  the  folly  to  say  to  the  King — 
some  months  after  the  arrest  of  the  said  La  Porte— 
that  the  discovery  which  had  been  made  of  letters, 
and  of  the  secret  intelligences  which  the  Queen 
held  in  Flanders,  in  Spain  and  with  the  Duke  of 


420  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1637- 

Lorraine,  astonished  him  beyond  measure,  as  he 
could  not  understand  how  the  Cardinal  could  find 
it  in  his  heart  to  treat  the  Queen  as  he  had  done, 
seeing  that  he  was  once  much  attached  to  her 
Majesty,  and  it  was  known  bore  her  yet  great  affec- 
tion. This  insinuation  was  dictated  by  the  most 
black  and  damnable  malice  that  could  possess 
the  mind  of  any  monk  whatever.  In  the  first 
place,  the  Cardinal  did  not  cause  the  arrest  of  La 
Porte,  but  the  King  did  by  his  absolute  authority  ; 
neither  was  it  in  the  power  of  the  said  Cardinal  to 
prevent  the  heinous  nature  of  the  Queen's  letters 
from  becoming  apparent.  Moreover,  the  said 
Caussin  had  the  audacity  to  accuse  M.  le  Cardinal 
of  a  lie,  on  the  simple  assertion  of  a  Princess 
convicted  of  having  made  false  oaths  on  several 
occasions  and  on  this  one  especially,  when  she 
found  herself  compelled  to  acknowledge  the  falsity 
of  several  matters  which  she  had  sworn  to  be  true 
upon  the  Holy  Eucharist." 15  The  Cardinal  then 
proceeds  to  relate  how  the  King,  sickening  at  the 
deceit  practised  by  his  confessor,  paid  him  a  visit 
one  morning  at  Ruel,  to  denounce  these  slander- 
ings.  His  Majesty  afterwards  declared  his  resolve 
to  dismiss  Caussin  from  his  important  office  of 
confessor,  and  was  moreover  desirous  that  the 
said  Jesuit  should  be  exiled  from  Paris.  The 
friends  of  Caussin  relate  that  the  King,  convinced 
by  his  remonstrances,  commanded  him  to  be  at 
Ruel  on  the  morning  of  the  9th  of  December, 
1637,  to  propose  the  reforms  in  the  administra- 
tion needful  "  for  our  conscience  and  our  welfare, 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  421 

and  we  will  support  you."  "I  pictured  to  my- 
self," says  Caussin,  "  the  Cardinal  furious  as  a 
great  dragon,  and  fit  to  tear  my  eyes  out  so  soon 
as  I  should  commence  to  represent  in  his  presence 
the  sins  of  his  administration."  16  Caussin,  it  is 
asserted,  duly  presented  himself  at  Ruel  where 
the  King  also  arrived.  At  the  last  moment  accord- 
ing to  Caussin  the  courage  of  Louis  failed,  and 
he  dared  not  bring  his  minister  face  to  face  with 
his  accuser.  The  reverend  father  therefore  re- 
ceived a  command  to  retire  from  Ruel  back  to  his 
convent  in  Paris.  The  same  evening  the  secretary 
of  state,  de  Noyers,  called  upon  the  Provincial  of 
the  Order  and  delivered  to  him  a  lettre  de  cachet 
which  directed  Caussin  to  leave  Paris  on  the  fol- 
lowing morning  for  Rennes,  under  the  surveillance 
of  an  exempt  of  the  guard,  and  forbidding  him 
meantime  to  hold  communication  with  any  per- 
sonages whatever.  The  prohibition  was  extended 
to  "  les  convents  de  jemmes"  evidently  with  a 
view  to  prevent  Caussin  from  visiting  La  Soeur 
Angelique  in  the  adjacent  nunnery  of  the  Visitan- 
dines.  Caussin  resigned  himself  to  his  fate  with 
tolerable  submission  ;  his  papers  were  seized  and 
carried  to  the  victorious  Richelieu.  Two  months 
subsequently,  Caussin,  on  reading  an  official  state- 
ment in  the  Gazette  on  the  appointment  of  his 
successor  to  the  office  of  confessor  to  Louis  XIII., 
which  amongst  other  things  declared  "  that  le 
Pere  Caussin  had  been  dismissed  for  his  want  of 
discretion,  and  for  conduct  so  inconsiderate  that 
the  heads  of  his  Order  were  surprised  that  he  had 


422  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1637- 

been  so  long  tolerated  at  court,  rather  than 
aggrieved  by  his  dismissal,"  was  imprudent  enough 
to  indite  a  letter  of  absolute  denial  of  the  charges 
to  de  Noyers.  This  epistle  fell  of  course  into  the 
hands  of  Richelieu,  who  summoned  the  Provincial 
Binet,  and  in  great  rage,  after  reading  the  letter 
aloud,  insisted  that  Caussin  should  be  sent  on 
a  missionary  expedition  to  Quebec.  Binet  re- 
spectfully observed,  "  that  a  mission  so  perilous 
and  therefore  glorious,  was  considered  the  highest 
reward  of  saintly  virtue,  and  therefore  it  was 
impossible  so  to  honour  a  priest  lying  under  the 
censure  of  his  superiors."  Caussin  was  eventually 
routed  from  his  peaceful  retreat  in  the  old  city  of 
Rennes  and  confined  to  the  inhospitable  and  rude 
district  round  Quimper,  where  he  remained  under 
surveillance  until  the  death  of  the  royal  penitent 
whom  he  had  risked  so  much  to  reform.17  Made- 
moiselle de  la  Fayette,  on  her  first  interview  with 
Louis,  ventured  to  remonstrate,  and  to  decry  the 
tyrannous  jealousies  of  the  Cardinal.  "  What 
would  you,  Madame  !  "  exclaimed  the  King,  pas- 
sionately. "  God  bestows  upon  every  unfortunate 
some  power  of  self-defence,  my  wife  is  barren 
and  she  hates  me,  my  mother  wishes  to  dethrone 
me,  my  brother  desires  to  put  my  crown  on  his 
head,  my  chief  nobles  dislike  me — they  betray 
me  and  rebel  against  my  power ;  but  for  M.  le 
Cardinal  therefore  I  perhaps  should  not  long 
keep  my  throne  !  J:  Sceur  Angelique  however 
ventured  to  allude  to  the  heavy  taxation — to  the 
alliance  of  Catholic  France  with  heretic  rebels — 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  423 

to  the  oppression  of  Richelieu's  secret  police  and 
to  his  ever-ready  Bastille  warrants.  His  Majesty 
listened  awhile,  then  suddenly  rose  and  departed 
without  uttering  a  word.  In  the  evening  however 
he  sent  de  Noyers  to  the  convent  to  say  "  that  he 
did  not  altogether  disapprove  the  liberty  which 
Soeur  Angelique  had  taken,  and  that  he  would 
pay  her  another  visit  in  the  course  of  a  few  days." 
Meantime  the  arm  of  St.  Isidore  arrived,  and 
was  exhibited  in  great  pomp  before  the  high  altar 
of  the  church  of  Notre  Dame.  The  Queen,  attended 
by  her  ladies,  received  the  precious  relic,  walking 
in  procession  from  the  Louvre  to  Notre  Dame, 
where  pontifical  mass  was  said  by  the  Archbishop 
of  Paris.  By  command  of  the  Cardinal,  prayers 
were  commanded  in  every  church  and  chapel  in 
the  capital  to  obtain  from  God  the  blessing  of 
royal  progeny.  Persons  conversant  with  the  daily 
life  and  habits  of  the  royal  pair  however  knew 
that  alienation  between  their  Majesties  was  never 
so  complete  and  apparently  insurmountable.  The 
Queen  inhabited  the  Louvre,  the  King  seldom 
approached  that  palace  except  for  state  audiences 
and  receptions,  but  passed  his  time  in  wandering 
between  the  chateaux  of  Madrid,  Fontainebleau, 
Ruel  and  Chantilly.  The  apartments  once  occu- 
pied by  Louis  in  the  Louvre  were  actually  without 
furniture.  When  their  Majesties  met  it  was 
observed  that,  beyond  the  profound  bow  which 
Louis  made  to  his  consort,  or  rather  to  her  chair 
of  state  on  entering  or  leaving  the  saloon,  he 
never  addressed  his  discourse  to  her,  but  appeared 


424  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1637- 

exclusively  occupied  with  Mademoiselle  de  Haute- 
fort,  who  had  again  become  the  object  of  the 
King's  dreary  homage.     When  her  companions 
congratulated  de  Hautefort  on  what  they  termed 
"  the   return  to   her  of  the   sunshine   of   royal 
favour,"  she  replied  indifferently,  "  that  she  was 
glad  only,  on  perceiving  that  her  influence  was 
reviving,  in  order  to  serve  the  Queen  her  mistress, 
and  thereby  to  parry  the  cunning  thrusts  of  M.  le 
Cardinal."    Predictions  of  the  approaching  birth 
of  a  Dauphin,  nevertheless,  were  circulated  by  the 
hundred  through  every  province  of  the  realm  ; 
monks  and  nuns  alike  declared  themselves  in- 
spired and   forwarded  oracles  to  the  Cardinal- 
minister,  to  lay  before  their  Majesties.     People 
marvelled,  and  discussed  the  miraculous  revela- 
tion, which  after  twenty-three  years  of  suspense, 
and  at  a  period  apparently  the  least  propitious  for 
domestic  felicity,  and  while  evil  tongues  yet  spoke 
flippantly  of  Anne's  recent  narrow  escape  from 
divorce,  promised  so  halcyon  an  event.     On  the 
3rd  of  November  1637,  the  Holy  Virgin  it  was 
averred  appeared  to  le  Pere  Fiacre,  an  Augus- 
tinian  monk  of  Paris,  while  in  obedience  to  the 
edict  he  was  making  diligent  intercession  on  her 
Majesty's  behalf.     The  Holy  Virgin  assured  the 
monk  that  Anne's  prayers  should  be  granted  on 
condition  that  the  Queen  performed  three  neu- 
vaines  in  her  honour,  one  of  which  should  be  said 
in  the  church  of  Notre  Dame  de  Grace  of  Cot- 
tignac.  To  convince  Father  Fiacre  that  the  vision 
was  neither  a  dream  nor  an  illusion,  the  Virgin 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  425 

appeared  to  him  as  she  was  represented  on  the 
altar-piece  of  the  church  at  Cottignac,  attended 
by  cherubs  and  surrounded  by  radiant  effulgence. 
Fiacre  instantly  waited  on  the  Cardinal  and  de- 
tailed his  vision.  Richelieu  therefore  introduced 
him  to  the  Queen,  who  listened  to  his  narrative 
with  mingled  trepidation  and  delight.  Anne 
despatched  the  monk  to  the  church  of  Cottignac 
to  verify  his  vision  by  contemplating  its  famous 
picture,  and  commissioned  him  to  offer  rich  gifts 
at  the  sacred  shrine  and  to  perform  for  her  the 
neuvaine  due  as  the  condition  of  the  miracle  pro-* 
mised.18  Another  monk,  le  Pere  Vincent,  on  his 
return  from  a  pilgrimage  to  Notre  Dame  de 
Savona,  predicted  the  approaching  birth  of  a 
Dauphin : 

Enfant,  qui  doit  porter  dessus  ton  front  empreint 

Des  mille  dons  du  ciel  le  divin  caractere, 
La  vertu  de  Frangois,  et  1'heur  de  Charles  Quint, 

La  clemence  de  Henry,  la  valeur  de  son  P&re. 

In  all  the  Franciscan  convents  of  the  realm 
ceaseless  petitions  were  especially  offered  to  obtain 
the  much-coveted  gift,  the  servants  of  Heaven 
made  constant  prayer  and  multiplied  their  acts 
of  devotion,  principally  on  the  festivals  of  our 
Lord  and  his  Holy  Mother,  on  the  feasts  of 
St.  Michael  the  Archangel,  Standard-bearer  of 
the  Heavenly  Hosts,  on  those  of  St.  Denis,  St. 
Martin,  St.  Remy,  Ste.  Anne,  Ste.  Genevieve,  St. 
Louis  and  St.  Germain.19  Richelieu  meantime 
exhorted  the  Queen  to  make  overtures  of  recon- 
ciliation to  her  husband,  who  on  his  side  was 
admonished  by  Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort  to 


426  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1637- 

accept  these  submissions,  and  to  restore  to  her 
his  conjugal  regard.  The  new  confessor,  the  Pere 
Sirmond,  spoke  to  Louis  earnestly  and  patheti- 
cally on  his  systematic  alienation  from  the  wife 
united  to  him  by  the  ministration  of  Holy 
Church,  and  prompted  by  the  Cardinal,  he  dis- 
cussed at  length  from  the  confessional  the  forlorn 
condition  of  the  realm,  which  might  perchance 
rejoice  in  the  security  to  be  conferred  by  the  birth 
of  an  heir-apparent,  if  the  King  actuated  by  a 
sense  ctf  duty  would  no  longer  banish  from  his 
heart  his  lawful  consort,  the  sister  of  the  most 
potent  monarch  in  Christendom. 

Louis  listened  to  these  unwonted  objurgations 
in  irritable  sullenness,  his  nerves  were  shaken  with 
intermittent  fever  and  his  dejection  deepened 
at  the  perverse  independence  of  Marie  de  Haute- 
fort,  who  insisted  on  the  privilege  of  speaking 
freely  in  return  for  the  burdensome  confidences 
he  imposed  upon  her.  The  birth  of  a  Dauphin  had 
become  an  indispensable  condition  of  Richelieu's 
future  political  and  personal  grandeur.  Monsieur 
hated  the  minister  with  the  spite  of  a  puny  intel- 
lect, Madame  his  consort,  and  possibly  the  future 
queen,  had  vowed  a  deep  vow  of  vengeance  for  the 
insults  inflicted  by  Richelieu  and  for  the  quibbles 
respecting  her  marriage  and  her  consequent 
penury  and  exile.  Conde,  first  prince  of  the  blood, 
and  next  in  succession  to  Monsieur,  owed  the 
minister  an  equivalent  for  many  a  humiliation  and 
rebuff.  Madame  la  Princesse,  Marguerite  de 
Montmorency,  cried  for  revenge  for  the  blood  of 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  427 

her  brother,  the  ill-starred  and  gallant  Moiit- 
morency  who  perished  on  the  scaffold  at  Toulouse. 
In  the  entourage  of  Gaston  the  King,  Richelieu 
moreover  saw  Marie  de'  Medici,  returned  from  her 
ignominious  exile,  wielding  at  will  the  sceptre  of 
her  incapable  and  frivolous  son,  fervid  in  her 
wrath  and  ready  to  execute  the  oath  attributed 
to  her :  "  to  cause  the  head  of  M.  le  Cardinal  to 
roll  in  the  dust  which  had  licked  up  the  blood  of 
that  true  knight  and  nobleman,  Montmorency  !  " 
A  Dauphin  therefore  was  the  only  safeguard  for 
the  life,  the  liberty  and  the  future  power  of  the 
haughty  Cardinal.  The  steadily  declining  health 
of  the  King  foretold  that  at  no  distant  period  the 
throne  would  become  vacant ;  a  vista  of  power  and 
glory  absolutely  dazzling  unfolded  before  Riche- 
lieu during  the  consequent  long  minority,  when 
all  the  functions  of  the  crown  might  centre  in  the 
hands  of  a  feeble  woman  as  Regent  of  France — 
a  Princess  ignorant  of  politics,  bound  to  her 
minister  perhaps  by  the  fetter  of  a  terrible 
secret,  and  timid  in  the  assertion  of  her  preroga- 
tive as  a  queen,  by  the  yoke  of  years  of  repression 
and  seclusion.  The  King  hated  his  brother  and 
abhorred  his  sister-in-law,  whose  children  he  in- 
tended to  disown  as  princes  of  the  blood,  but  he 
was  inspired,  in  common  with  the  other  princes  of 
Europe,  with  chivalrous  veneration  for  his  wife's 
kindred,  the  dynasty  of  Charles  Quint  and  for  the 
power  of  the  Catholic  King.  This  feeling  had  saved 
Queen  Anne  from  divorce.  A  son  therefore  would 
be  welcomed  it  was  presumed  by  King  Louis,  in 


428  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1687- 

order  to  displace  Monsieur  his  heir-presumptive, 
while  respect  for  the  august  dignity  of  a  Queen- 
Infanta  must  stifle  the  impertinent  conjecture  of 
the  captious,  even  if  profane  doubts  awoke  in  the 
mind  of  the  princes  interested  in  the  purity  of 
the  succession.  Through  Father  Carre,  who  still 
diligently  performed  his  functions  at  court  as  con- 
fessor to  the  Queen's  ladies  and  maidens  and  in- 
former to  the  Cardinal,  SoeurAngelique  was  enlisted 
to  lecture  Louis  on  his  domestic  delinquencies. 
The  month  of  December,  1637,  thus  approached, 
the  Queen  making  sojourn  in  the  Louvre  and 
being  still  fettered  by  the  restrictions  placed  upon 
her  intercourse  with  her  friends  and  the  male 
members  of  her  household.  Louis  resided  during 
this  period  chiefly  at  Versailles.  One  afternoon, 
ennui  more  than  usually  depressing  the  royal 
mind,  his  Majesty  resolved  to  sleep  at  St.  Maur 
where  he  had  a  hunting  establishment,  and  on 
passing  through  Paris  to  refresh  his  spirit  by  a 
visit  to  the  convent  of  the  Faubourg  St.  Antoine. 
The  conversation  with  La  Soeur  Angelique  lasted 
four  hours,  and  embraced  every  possible  topic. 
Mademoiselle  de  la  Fayette  implored  the  King  as 
usual  to  be  reconciled  to  his  consort,  to  refrain 
from  giving  undue  prominence  by  the  honour  of 
his  exclusive  notice,  however  innocent,  to  any  lady 
of  the  court,  and  finally  she  again  exhorted  him 
to  restrain  the  arrogance  of  Richelieu,  and  to 
recall  the  Queen-mother  and  his  late  confessor, 
Caussin,  from  exile.  Her  words  for  the  moment 
deeply  moved  the  King  and  he  rose  to  depart 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  429 

lauding  the  sanctity  of  his  monitress  and  half 
promising  to  conform  to  her  counsel.  During  the 
conference  however  a  great  storm  of  wind  and 
snow  had  arisen,  evening  was  advancing  apace, 
and  Guitaut,  captain  of  the  guard,  pronounced  it 
alike  inexpedient  to  proceed  to  St.  Maur  or  to 
return  to  Versailles.  The  King,  greatly  provoked, 
declared  his  resolve  to  brave  the  storm  and  regain 
Versailles,  as  his  apartments  at  the  Louvre  were 
not  prepared  and  none  of  the  officers  of  his  house- 
hold in  Paris.  "  Sire,"  boldly  retorted  Guitaut, 
"while  the  Queen  resides  at  the  Louvre  you 
cannot  want  either  a  supper  or  a  lodging !  "  20  The 
King  replied  in  a  vexed  tone  that  he  would  wait 
awhile,  for  that  probably  the  weather  might 
change.  The  storm  however  increased  in  violence 
and  a  pouring  rain  set  in.  All  chance  therefore 
of  a  speedy  change  of  weather  vanished.  Guitaut 
again  pressed  the  King  to  take  refuge  in  his 
Louvre.  "  The  Queen  sups  and  retires  too  late  for 
our  habits  ;  we  choose  therefore  rather  to  claim 
the  hospitality  of  M.  le  Cardinal,"  replied  Louis. 
After  some  further  debate  and  delay,  the  King 
nevertheless,  was  induced  to  repair  to  the  Louvre, 
where  he  arrived  about  ten  o'clock.  This  decorous 
resolution  has  been  ascribed  to  the  politic  counsels 
of  Mademoiselle  de  la  Fayette.  Anne,  previously 
apprised  of  the  probable  visit  of  her  lord  by  her 
zealous  friend  Guitaut,  received  the  King  with 
smiles  and  welcome,  while  Mademoiselle  de 
Hautefort  indicated  approval  of  his  presence  by 
the  warmth  of  her  greeting.  The  supper  was  laid 


430  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1637- 

in  Anne's  cabinet,  and  was  served  by  her  Majesty's 
maids.  The  evening  passed  merrily,  for  the 
Queen  put  forth  those  enchanting  graces  of 
manner  usually  reserved  for  strangers,  and  for 
which  she  was  renowned.  The  depression  of  the 
King  was  at  length  dissipated,  the  smiles  of  the 
Queen's  syrens  banished  irritating  reminiscences, 
Anne's  coquettish  enticements  prevailed — and  the 
King,  won  to  temporary  oblivion  of  his  wrongs, 
accepted  her  hospitality  for  the  night.21  Louis 
departed  on  the  following  morning  for  Versailles, 
but  invited  the  Queen  to  pay  him  an  early  visit 
there.  Thus  it  was  said  was  accomplished  in  the 
year  1637,  through  the  combined  influences  of  the 
elements  and  the  politic  counsels  of  the  friends  of 
France,  that  conjugal  reunion  which  had  been 
broken  by  the  indiscretions — to  use  no  harsher 
term — committed  by  Anne  of  Austria  during  the 
embassy  in  1626  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham, 
which  unhappy  impressions  were  confirmed  on  the 
King's  mind,  never  more  to  be  effaced,  however 
he  might  dissemble,  by  the  revelations  which 
came  to  light  during  the  trial  at  Nantes  of  the 
Prince  de  Chalais. 

Madame  de  Chevreuse  meantime  had  been 
received  in  state  by  Philip  IV.  and  his  Queen,  who 
sent  royal  coaches,  drawn  by  six  mules,  and  a 
military  escort,  to  bring  her  into  Madrid.  Her 
charms  and  vivacity  captivated  the  King  and 
Olivarez,  who  experienced  besides  malicious 
pleasure  in  affording  so  vivid  a  welcome  to  a  foe 
of  Richelieu — a  lady  who  had  foiled  him  with  his 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  431 

own  weapons.  The  Queen,  Isabel  of  France, 
loved  to  discourse  with  Madame  de  Chevreuse  on 
the  glories  of  that  court  which  she  had  quitted 
when  too  young  to  appreciate  its  fascinations, 
also  she  held  conferences  to  modify  the  stiff 
farthingale  and  other  antiquated  specimens  of 
Spanish  attire,  so  as  to  assimilate  the  toilette  of 
her  ladies  with  the  rich  robes  and  flowing  hair  of 
the  Duchess.  Marie  notwithstanding  her  successes 
in  Madrid,  pined  for  home  and  for  communica- 
tion with  France,  which  so  long  as  she  resided  in 
the  Spanish  capital  was  closed  to  her.  The  Due 
de  Chevreuse  feared  to  compromise  himself  by 
writing  to  his  wife,  while  Boispille,  their  con- 
fidential agent,  declined  to  answer  letters  sent 
from  Spain.  The  Duchess  therefore,  much  to  the 
regret  of  King  Philip,  quitted  Madrid  **  at  the 
commencement  of  the  year  1638,  and  journeyed 
to  London,  where  she  was  cordially  welcomed  by 
Queen  Henrietta.  Madame  de  Chevreuse  was, 
however,  suffering  from  pecuniary  difficulties, 
her  gorgeous  style  and  munificence  agreed  badly 
with  sequestrated  revenues,  while  she  possessed 
but  two  private  sources  likely  to  supply  her  wants. 
The  Queen  owed  her  a  large  sum  of  money — and 
there  remained  still  to  her  the  resource  of  pledging 
her  superb  jewels  which  she  had  confided  to  her 
friend  the  Prince  de  Marsillac.  Madame  de 
Chevreuse  therefore  wrote  to  Anne  to  beseech 
her  to  repay  this  debt,  she  asked  her  Majesty  to 
refund  to  Richelieu  the  10,000  livres  he  had  "  in- 
solently "  sent  her,  and  remit  the  remainder  to 


432  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1637- 

London  through  the  ambassador.  ' '  I  have  desired 
my  messenger,  Madame,  to  inform  you  of  a  strait 
which  I  can  neither  forget  nor  conceal  from  you.  The 
condition  in  which  I  find  myself  prevents  me  from 
paying  this  debt,  while  your  position  enables  you 
easily  to  acquit  it.  I  beseech  you  therefore  to  do 
so,  and  moreover  to  make  known  your  indigna- 
tion. If  you  could  repay  to  me  the  remainder  of  the 
debt,  believe  that  it  would  be  a  very  acceptable 
relief  to  her  who  is  absolutely  yours,  the  which 
I  know  that  you  think.  Believe,  therefore,  that 
you  could  not  render  me  a  more  signal  service."  " 
Whether  Anne  found  it  so  easy  to  acquit  the  debt 
we  have  no  record,  but  it  does  not  seem  that  she 
interested  herself  in  the  many  petitions  addressed 
by  the  fugitive  to  Richelieu  for  permission  to 
return  home,  or  to  extricate  her  revenues  from 
the  lavish  profligacies  of  M.  de  Chevreuse.  Secure 
of  the  mistress,  the  Cardinal  could  now  fearlessly 
assume  a  high  patronising  tone  and  easy  jocu- 
larity as  he  discussed  the  "high-flown  romance" 
of  Madame  la  Duchesse,  and  gibed  at  the  in- 
fluence which  she  supposed  that  she  exercised 
over  "  that  mad  enthusiast,"  M.  de  Lorraine. 
When  M.  le  Due  de  Chevreuse  ventured  to  in- 
tercede, the  Cardinal  blandly  condoled  with  him 
on  the  trials  he  had  endured  from  the  capricious 
frenzies  of  his  consort ;  when  M.  le  Due  de  Mont- 
bazon,  father  of  the  Duchess,  mediated,  Richelieu, 
by  a  witty  turn  in  the  discourse  poured  the 
merriment  of  the  bystanders  like  a  flood  on  his 
unlucky  petitioner,  who  though  a  very  great 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  433 

lord,  yet  from  his  simplicity  and  an  unfortunate 
habit  of  saying  the  very  reverse  of  that  which  he 
desired  to  express,  was  the  butt  of  the  court.24 
To  Boispille  and  to  the  Abbe  Dorat,  Richelieu 
condescended  to  be  more  explicit.  He  presently 
intrusted  to  their  care  for  delivery  to  the  Duchess 
a  declaration  signed  by  the  King,  in  which  Louis 
granted  his  pardon  for  the  late  misdemeanours 
of  Marie  de  Rohan  Chevreuse,  in  her  traitorous 
endeavours  to  induce  M.  de  Lorraine  to  refuse 
reconciliation  with  France.  His  Majesty  therein 
interdicted  the  Duchess  from  seeing  the  Queen, 
from  corresponding  with  any  person  out  of  the 
realm,  and  restricted  her  residence  to  the 
chateau  de  Dampierre.  As  for  la  petite  pro- 
menade that  Madame  la  Duchesse  had  thought 
proper  to  make  in  Spain,  the  King  consented  to 
draw  over  it  the  veil  of  his  royal  oblivion.  When 
this  document  was  presented  to  the  Duchess  she 
absolutely  refused  the  offered  grace.  "  I  will  not 
be  pardoned  for  a  fault  which  I  have  not  com- 
mitted, neither  will  I  be  shut  up  at  Dampierre  ; 
all  that  I  promise  is  not  to  approach  within  five 
leagues  of  the  court !  "  Dorat  returned  to  Paris 
with  this  answer.  Richelieu  however  was  re- 
solved sooner  or  later  to  wring  a  confession  of 
guilt  from  the  Duchess,  as  he  had  compelled 
her  royal  mistress  to  admit  her  misdeeds.  He 
received  Dorat's  communication  with  ironical 
smiles,  and  commissioned  him  to  demand  from 
Madame  de  Chevreuse  an  avowal,  at  least,  that 
she  had  joined  Anne  of  Austria  in  an  intrigue 


434  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1637- 

against  his  power  and  fame.  Moreover,  that  she 
had  been  a  consenting  party  to  the  insulting  term 
of  ignominy  applied  to  him  by  the  ex-keeper  of 
the  seals,  Chateauneuf.  The  spoiled,  petulant 
beauty  again  returned  a  passionate  denial,  and 
also  addressed  a  letter  of  reproach  to  M.  le  Car- 
dinal. Richelieu  avoided  sending  a  direct  answer 
to  the  Duchess,  but  wrote  a  letter  to  Dorat  to  be 
shown  to  and  perused  by  her.  Always  gallant 
and  piquant  when  addressing  a  beautiful  lady, 
the  apparent  bonhomie  and  indulgent  reprimands 
of  the  Cardinal  must  have  been  bitter  to  the 
Duchess,  who  beheld  kings  at  her  footstool.  "  The 
letter  which  I  have  received  from  Madame  de 
Chevreuse,"  wrote  the  Cardinal  to  Dorat,  "  is 
throughout  a  bitter  upbraiding  that  I  do  not 
serve  her  as  she  desires,  rather  than  a  gracious 
appreciation  of  the  things  which  I  have  lately 
done  to  satisfy  her.  The  civility  which  is  due  to 
a  lady  prevents  me  from  attempting  a  reply,  as 
thereby  I  should  be  certain  to  displease  her  ;  but 
her  advantage,  nevertheless,  induces  me  to  ad- 
dress you,  in  order  that  you  may  represent  to  her 
certain  matters  in  which  she  is  much  interested. 
She  is  displeased  that  I  desire  to  extort  from  her 
some  acknowledgment  of  her  secret  dealings  with 
foreign  princes.  It  is  difficult  to  cure  a  sick  man 
who  denies  that  he  has  anything  amiss.  Physi- 
cians, while  they  expect  to  be  apprised  of  the 
ailments  of  their  patients,  conceal  them  from 
strangers.  You  know  better  than  most  people 
that,  concerning  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  I  have 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  435 

acted  with  the  secresy  of  a  physician  and  a  con- 
fessor. I  do  not  even  scruple  to  avow  that  since 
the  affair  of  M.  de  Chateauneuf,  many  damning 
proofs  of  her  guilt  have  fallen  into  my  hands. 
Madame  de  Chevreuse  cannot  expect  that  I 
should  shock  the  feelings  of  the  King  by  declaring 
her  innocent,  when  his  Majesty  has  before  him 
proofs  to  the  contrary.  I,  nevertheless,  herewith 
send  her  a  pardon,  pur  et  simple,  such  as  she 
demands.  Madame  de  Chevreuse  however  will 
probably  deem  it  strange  and  irksome  that  she  is 
not  permitted  to  roam  all  over  France  at  her 
pleasure,  such  places  excepted  as  may  be  honoured 
by  the  presence  of  the  King  and  the  Queen.  Be- 
fore she  undertook  her  late  excursion  into  Spain 
Tours  was  her  residence.  If  since  that  time  she 
has  done  any  thing  or  deed  worthy  of  commenda- 
tion or  of  greater  consideration,  I  confess  my 
error  in  not  granting  her  the  perfect  liberty  which 
she  demands.  If  her  actions  however  have  not 
been  immaculate,  she  is  unreasonable  and  errs 
against  the  rules  of  sound  politics  in  expecting  an 
augmentation  of  grace  in  proportion  to  the 
multiplication  of  her  misdemeanours.  Time  and 
good  conduct  may  bring  her  the  realisation  of  all 
her  wishes ;  my  power  is  not  potent  enough, 
neither  is  my  will  so  infirm  as  to  decree  a  liberty 
prejudicial  to  the  realm,  and  by  its  temptations 
unbecoming  to  Madame  de  Chevreuse.  You  will 
nevertheless  assure  her  that  in  every  true 
interest  I  will  help  her  with  cordial  affection,  I 
will  even  bow  admiringly  before  a  mind  such  as 


436  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1637- 

hers,  when  not  swayed  by  selfish  passion  or  by 
unlawful  prejudice." 26  The  Duchess,  however, 
relieved  from  her  most  pressing  pecuniary  necessi- 
ties, laughed  at  the  objurgations  of  her  wary  foe, 
danced  with  Queen  Henrietta  at  Whitehall, 
flirted  with  King  Charles,  despatched  exquisite 
little  caricatures  of  Richelieu  to  Madrid  for  the 
edification  of  her  friends,  prayed  publicly  for 
Queen  Marie  de5  Medici  and  for  all  the  unfor- 
tunate exiles  driven  from  France,  and  scandalised 
the  ambassador  of  King  Louis — until  electrified 
by  the  astonishing  news  that  the  pregnancy  of 
Queen  Anne  of  Austria  was  officially  proclaimed 
throughout  France. 

The  calamities  of  the  war  and  the  alleged 
tyranny  of  the  able  minister  were  forgotten  in  the 
delirious  joy  occasioned  by  this  event.  In  France 
no  one  stayed  to  cavil  or  to  criticise,  in  the  over- 
whelming thankfulness  felt  that  an  heir  to  the 
sceptre  of  Henri  Quatre  might  be  born,  and 
the  realm  delivered  from  probable  civil  war  on 
the  death  of  Louis  XIII.,  or  from  the  unsteady 
rule  of  Monsieur.  Processions  perambulated  the 
streets.  Te  Deums  were  chaunted  in  Notre 
Dame  and  in  all  the  principal  cathedrals,  alms 
never  before  so  inundated  the  kingdom,  and 
jubilee  resounded  even  amid  the  frightful  soli- 
tudes of  La  Grande  Chartreuse  of  Grenoble.  The 
countenance  of  Louis  Treize  however  did  not 
grow  more  cheerful,  and  though  he  walked  in  the 
chief  processions  yet  their  object  might  have  been 
penitential  rather  than  jubilant  to  judge  by  the 


1639J  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  437 

gloom- stricken  face  and  careless  garb  of  the 
monarch  upon  whom  such  a  blessing  had  been 
bestowed.  In  Rome  masses  were  celebrated  for 
the  Queen's  safe  delivery  and  for  the  birth  of  a 
male  heir  to  Bourbon.  In  Madrid  a  court 
procession  to  the  chapel  of  the  Virgen  de  Atocha, 
testified  the  participation  of  their  Catholic  Ma- 
jesties in  an  event  so  important  to  the  Infanta 
Queen  of  France.  By  the  advice  of  Richelieu  and 
of  Le  Pere  Joseph,  Louis  was  induced  to  make  a 
solemn  dedication  of  himself  and  his  realm  to  the 
Virgin  Mary,  through  whose  direct  interposition 
the  prayers  of  all  France  had  been  miraculously 
answered.  This  consecration  was  performed  with 
great  pomp  during  the  month  of  February  1638, 
in  the  church  of  Notre  Dame.26  Abroad,  where 
public  sentiments  were  not  fettered  by  interest, 
respect  or  by  the  hand  of  arbitrary  authority, 
speculations  the  most  derogatory  to  the  majesty 
of  the  crown  and  personally  mortifying  to  the 
King  prevailed.  Lampoons,  pamphlets,27  para- 
graphs in  the  public  gazettes,  hinted  that  the 
devotion  of  M.  le  Cardinal  de  Richelieu  for  the 
future  prosperity  of  France  had  comprehended 
and  embraced  every  function  and  privilege  of 
majesty.  Other  pamphleteers,  more  audacious, 
feigned  to  bewail  the  future  calamities  of  Europe 
when  a  crowned  son  of  Richelieu  should  wield  the 
destiny  of  the  nation.  In  Holland  especially  such 
libels  abounded.  In  England  they  fluttered  for 
an  interval  but  were  finally  put  down  by  the  high 
hand  of  authority.  The  vanquished  Huguenots 


438  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1637- 

of  France  ventured  on  a  feeble  lampoon  in  verse, 
which  beginning  with  the  Dukes  of  Orleans  and 
Buckingham  enumerated  the  alleged  egarements 
of  her  very  Christian  Majesty.  Most  of  these 
squibs  and  satires  penetrated  into  the  interior  of 
the  Louvre  and  became  fiery  darts  in  the  bosom 
of  the  suspicious  Louis,  who  persuaded  that  he 
had  been  before  betrayed  by  the  Queen  was 
only  too  accessible  to  sinister  impressions.  Anne 
herself  was  elated  and  triumphant ;  from  being 
considered  a  personage  secondary  in  importance 
almost  to  the  Duchesse  d'Aiguillon,  she  found  the 
state  saloons  of  the  Louvre  crowded  when  she 
appeared  in  public,  for  the  King  had  again  firmly 
refused  to  annul  his  ordinance  of  the  year  1626, 
which  interdicted  gentlemen  from  paying  their 
respects  in  private  to  the  Queen. 

Louis  continued  to  find  some  solace  in  the 
society  of  Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort  and  in 
conning  over  military  details.  The  smiles  of  the 
latter  during  the  month  of  June  were  however 
eclipsed  by  the  angry  discussions  which  arose  on 
the  appointment  of  the  household  of  the  expected 
enfant  de  France.  Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort 
asked  that  her  grandmother,  Madame  de  la 
Flotte,  should  be  nominated  to  the  high  office  of 
gouvernante  to  the  expected  Dauphin,  or  Madame 
Royale.  The  Cardinal  however  had  other  views ; 
the  cradle  even  of  the  heir  of  France  must  not  be 
rocked  by  an  enemy — Madame  de  la  Flotte  was 
garrulous  and  swayed  by  her  grand-daughter 
who  had  shown  herself  inimical.  Madame  de 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  439 

Lansac,  a  near  relation  of  Richelieu's  and 
daughter  of  M.  le  Marquis  de  Souvre,  ex-preceptor 
to  Louis  XIII.,  was  selected  for  the  coveted 
honour,  while  Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort  was 
propitiated  by  her  own  nomination  as  survivante 
to  the  office  of  dame  (Valours,  then  filled  by 
Madame  de  la  Flotte.  This  favour  conferred  upon 
Marie  de  Hautefort  the  title  of  Madame,  and  it 
was  a  distinction  which  had  never  before  been 
bestowed  on  an  unmarried  lady.  The  Queen 
passively  submitted  to  the  nomination  of  Madame 
de  Lansac,  and  when  the  latter  presented  herself 
to  tender  homage  received  her  with  great  affa- 
bility. Madame  de  Lansac  had  received  ample 
instruction  from  the  rapid  pen  of  Richelieu  how 
she  was  to  conduct  herself  and  what  she  was  to 
say  on  her  first  audience,  in  her  new  capacity, 
with  the  Queen.  All  Richelieu's  agents  moved 
and  spoke  and  thought  at  his  dictation,  his 
forethought  embraced  every  possible  casualty, 
and  even  when  burdened  with  the  weight  and 
responsibility  of  a  war,  he  could  prescribe  the 
trifling  etiquettes  of  a  court  audience.  "  Madame 
de  Lansac  is  hereby  informed,"  wrote  Richelieu, 
"  that  the  King  has  written  to  the  Queen  to  inform 
her  Majesty  that  he  has  chosen  her  to  fill  the  office 
of  governess  to  the  child  which  it  may  please  God 
to  give  him.  When  her  Majesty  shall  be  pleased 
to  send  for  Madame  de  Lansac  and  shall  ask  the 
said  lady  whether  she  is  aware  of  the  honour 
about  to  be  conferred  upon  her,  the  said  lady 
shall  candidly  answer — that  rumour  having  placed 


440  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1637- 

her  on  the  list  of  the  personages  eligible  for 
the  honour,  and  being  apprised  that  the  King 
had  seen  her  name  without  displeasure,  her 
reluctance  to  be  thought  importunate  and  pre- 
suming had  prevented  her  thenceforth  from 
paying  frequent  court  as  usual  to  her  Majesty."  28 
Madame  de  Lansac  was  then  instructed  to  whisper 
her  grief  that  it  had  been  reported  such  nomina- 
tion might  be  unwelcome  to  her  Majesty.  She 
was  then  directed,  upon  leaving  the  royal  apart- 
ments, to  visit  Mesdames  de  Hautefort  and  de  la 
Flotte,  "  so  that  nothing  mischievous  to  Madame 
de  Lansac  may  be  insinuated  by  these  persons  to 
her  Majesty."  Anne  of  Austria  played  her  part 
to  perfection,  declared  herself  perfectly  satisfied 
with  the  appointment  and  overwhelmed  the 
future  gouvernante  with  flattering  indications  of 
approval.  Madame  de  Lansac  however  was  not 
deceived  by  these  demonstrations,  she  was  a 
shrewd,  self-possessed  woman  of  a  certain  age, 
proud  of  being  a  Souvre  and  the  intimate  friend 
of  Madame  d'Aiguillon,  and  devoted  to  the  glory 
and  to  the  prosperity  of  her  kinsman  the  great 
Cardinal.  She  was  aware  that  Richelieu  dis- 
trusted Madame  de  Senece  and  Mesdames  de 
Hautefort  and  de  la  Flotte,  and  that  she  was 
placed  at  the  Louvre  to  keep  the  Queen  under 
surveillance — not  indeed  rudely  to  interfere  with 
Anne's  pleasures  and  pastimes,  or  to  force  advice 
upon  her  Majesty,  but  simply  to  keep  the  Cardinal 
au  courant  with  the  Queen's  domestic  avocations 
and  intimates. 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  441 

King  Louis  meanwhile  wandered  discon- 
solately from  St.  Germain  to  Versailles  and  back 
again,  in  despair  at  the  ireful  and  unforgiving 
mood  of  Madame  de  Hautefort  who  declined 
his  confidences  and  refused  either  to  look  at  him 
or  to  speak  to  him.  Richelieu  had  taken  his 
departure  for  the  seat  of  war  in  Picardy,  and 
to  Amiens  were  the  letters  addressed  which 
described  to  his  Eminence  the  "  doings  "  at  St. 
Germain.  Le  Pere  Carre,  Chavigny  and  Bullion 
wrote  daily  and  sometimes  thrice  a  day,  alarming 
despatches  relative  to  the  royal  despair  and  the 
obduracy  of  Madame  de  Hautefort.  These  de- 
spatches must  have  been  heavy  burdens  on  the 
unfortunate  ministers,  they  are  dated  at  all 
hours — some  at  midnight,  others  were  written  at 
three  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Chavigny,  whose 
amusing  pen  lightens  the  details  of  many  a  dreary 
despatch,  seems  to  enter  into  the  ludicrous 
position ;  in  various  letters,  all  following  closely, 
he  gives  the  Cardinal  the  following  scraps  of 
information :  "  Monseigneur  will  have  heard  of 
the  indisposition  of  the  King  by  the  letters  of 
M.  Bouvard  (the  royal  physician  in  ordinary). 
His  Majesty  is  a  prey  to  incredible  indecision,  he 
is  ready  to  fall  on  his  knees  before  sa  dame  and 
pray  for  pardon.  This  evening  in  the  circle 
there  was  little  conversation.  When  we  were 
alone,  the  King  after  a  long  argument  on  the 
subject  of  de  Hautefort  of  which  I  had  the  best, 
exclaimed,  '  Lost !  lost !  I  am  impatient  to  see 
her.  I  love  her  better  than  all  the  rest  of  the 


442  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1637- 

world  combined.  I  will  kneel  to  ask  her  par- 
don !  '  "  The  King  during  the  last  two  days 
has  been  at  Versailles  on  account  of  the  continua- 
tion of  his  quarrel  with  Madame  de  Hautefort. 
The  said  lady  now  declares  a  fresh  cause  of  offence, 
inasmuch  as  the  Duke  de  Montbazon  was  indis- 
creet enough  to  say  to  her  in  the  presence  of  the 
King,  '  that  the  reason  she  hated  Madame  de 
Lansac  was  that  the  latter  lady  would  not  permit 
her  son  to  marry  the  said  de  Hautefort ' — the 
which  disobliging  remark  his  Majesty  con- 
firmed. .  .  .  This  afternoon  his  Majesty  wrote  to 
your  Eminence  to  state  that  the  displeasure  and 
dissatisfaction  which  he  experienced  from  de 
Hautefort  would  compel  him  to  send  her  from 
court.  His  Majesty  however  countermanded 
the  courier,  being  determined  to  make  a  last 
effort  this  evening  to  reconcile  himself  with  the 
said  lady."  29  "  The  King  did  me  the  honour  to 
assure  me,"  writes  Bullion,  "  of  the  affection  and 
confidence  which  he  felt  towards  your  Eminence. 
His  Majesty  said,  '  Madame  de  Hautefort  has 
observed  to  me  that  M.  le  Cardinal  and  myself 
are  great  friends,  nevertheless,  mark  my  words, 
Regnum  meum  non  est  de  hoc  mundo  ;  for  neither 
M.  le  Cardinal,  nor  myself,  nor  my  good  servants 
find  favour  at  St.-Germain.'  I  said  that  I  was 
aware  that  efforts  were  made  to  unite  the  interests 
of  the  Queen  and  Madame  de  Hautefort,  and 
that  by  the  mediation  of  a  young  lady  whose 
name  I  could  not  remember.  '  Ah  ! '  said  the 
King,  '  you  mean  Beaumont,  but  she  gives  de 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  443 

Hautefort  bad  advice.  At  St.  Germain  they  do 
nothing  but  quarrel,"  so  much  so  that  I  am  weary 
and  long  to  be  with  M.  le  Cardinal.  La  Hautefort 
does  nothing  but  sting  Madame  de  Lansac.  Upon 
the  matter  of  the  Queen's  letters,  de  Hautefort 
told  me  to-day  that  Madame  de  la  Flotte  did  not 
now  deem  it  a  part  of  her  duty  to  inform  me 
when  her  Majesty  writes  and  to  whom  ! '  Upon 
which  I  remarked,  '  that  his  Majesty  ought  to 
thank  God  for  the  wise  counsels  of  your  Eminence 
in  advising  the  nomination  of  Madame  de  Lansac, 
as  evidently,  on  the  dicta  of  Madame  de  Haute- 
fort, he  cannot  place  confidence  in  the  zeal  of  La 
Flotte.' " 30  Such  were  the  puerile  despatches 
which  harassed  Richelieu  at  the  seat  of  war.  His 
Eminence  wrote  three  long  letters  of  condolence 
to  the  King ;  he  also  addressed  Madame  de 
Hautefort,  and  represented  the  responsibility 
which  she  incurred  by  agitating  the  mind  of  the 
King  as  yet  only  imperfectly  recovered  from 
fever.  Perhaps  the  ferment  frightened  de  Haute- 
fort, or  the  entreaties  of  Anne  of  Austria  were 
united  with  those  of  the  ladies  of  her  household 
in  praying  Marie  to  receive  the  King  again  into 
favour.  A  smile  from  the  syren,  which  beamed 
the  more  brilliantly  after  information  had  been 
conveyed  to  her  by  Chavigny  that  the  King  had 
despatched  a  missive  to  Sceur  Angelique,  and  the 
reconciliation  was  achieved,  Louis  promising 
to  Madame  de  la  Flotte  the  survivance  of  the 
charge  of  lady  of  honour,  then  filled  by  Madame 
de  Senece.  Richelieu  indicates  his  joy  at  the 


444  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1637- 

restoration  of  concord  in  the  following  pithy 
sentences :  "I  am  enchanted  to  learn  that 
harmony  again  subsists  between  your  Majesty's 
dignity  and  your  partiality ;  the  latter,  in  my 
opinion,  will  ever  be  innocent  and  pure.  I  feel 
extreme  gladness  that  the  King  now  finds  con- 
tentment in  his  innocent  recreations,  and  I  pray 
God  with  all  my  heart  that  such  may  long  time 
endure  !  " 31 

The  great  event  of  the  accouchement  of  the 
Queen  was  now  approaching.  On  the  1st  of  Sep- 
tember 1638,  the  Princesses  and  ladies  nominated 
to  be  present  on  the  occasion  arrived  at  St.-Ger- 
main-en-Laye.  Monsieur  also  appeared,  captious 
as  usual,  and  greatly  incensed  that  his  wife  had 
not  received  a  special  summons,  that  the  recog- 
nition of  her  claims  might  be  made  on  so  supreme 
an  occasion.  Whilst  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  her 
brother  was  at  war  with  his  liege  the  King  of 
France,  Marguerite  deemed  it  prudent  not  to 
venture  within  the  grip  of  her  enemy  the  Cardinal- 
minister,  unless  specially  protected  by  a  safe- 
conduct  which  Louis  had  indignantly  refused  to 
grant.  The  Queen  felt  the  first  symptoms  of 
labour  at  two  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  Sunday, 
September  5th.  At  four  o'clock,  Anne  sent  for 
her  almoner  the  Bishop  of  Lisieux  and  com- 
manded a  mass  to  be  celebrated  in  her  room, 
there  being  present  only  the  midwife  Madame 
Peronne  and  Mademoiselle  Filandre  chief  tire- 
woman, the  indisposition  of  her  Majesty  being 
kept  secret  by  her  special  command.  At  five 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  445 

o'clock,  Filandre  caused  the  King  to  be  apprized 
of  the  approaching  event.32  Louis  arose  and 
commanded  the  presence  of  all  official  personages, 
and  that  his  medical  staff  should  repair  to  the 
large  saloon.  In  twenty  minutes  the  inmates  of 
the  chateau  were  wild  with  excitement  and 
expectation.  The  guard  was  posted  and  every 
avenue  leading  to  the  palace  kept  by  a  strong 
piquet  of  soldiers.  The  gentlemen  of  the  King's 
Swiss  guard,  bearing  their  battle-axes  and  hal- 
berts,  ranged  themselves  in  the  vestibule  of  the 
palace.  At  six  o'clock,  the  ladies  whose  right  it 
was  to  be  present  in  the  Queen's  chamber  entered 
and  took  their  seats  on  chairs  covered  with  cloth 
of  gold.  These  were  the  Princess  de  Conde,  the 
Countess  de  Soissons,  the  Duchess  de  Vendome, 
the  mistress  of  the  robes  Duchess  de  Mont- 
morency,  the  Duchess  de  Bouillon,  the  Marquise 
de  Lansac,  Mesdames  de  Senece  and  de  la  Flotte. 
In  a  saloon  adjoining,  were  Seguier  the  chancellor, 
Chavigny,  Bullion,  Mesdames  de  Guemene,  de  la 
Trimouille,  de  Villauxclers,  de  Hautefort,  de 
Liancour,  and  de  Mortemar.  The  prelates  were 
the  Archbishop  of  Bourges,  the  Bishops  of 
Lisieux,33  Chalons  and  Meaux.34  In  another 
lofty  chamber  several  hundred  personages  of 
minor  condition  waited  the  event.  At  nine 
o'clock  a  sensation  of  terror  pervaded  the  assem- 
blage, the  Queen  was  reported  to  be  in  extreme 
peril  and  a  hasty  message  from  Dame  Peronne 
summoned  the  surgeons  in  waiting.  Seguier, 
also,  went  to  inform  the  King  of  this  crisis,  who 


446  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1687- 

does  not  appear  to  have  paid  any  previous  visit  to 
his  consort.  Louis  then  entered  the  apartment 
pallid  and  downcast ;  he  approached  the  tem- 
porary altar,  and  kneeling,  prayed  aloud  that  God 
would  grant  a  safe  and  speedy  delivery  to  the 
Queen  his  consort.  Masses  were  then  commenced 
by  the  Bishop  of  Lisieux  in  the  royal  chamber ; 
while  the  Bishop  of  Meaux  recited  the  Divine 
Office  in  the  saloon,  which  was  fervently  joined 
in  by  all  present.35 

The  King,  meantime,  discoursed  with  Madame 
de  Hautefort  who  was  weeping  bitterly.  At 
half-past  ten,  Madame  de  Senece  approached 
with  a  message  from  the  Queen  to  her  royal 
consort.  Anne  sent  her  greeting,  an  assurance  of 
her  courage  and  an  entreaty  that  the  King  would 
retire  to  partake  of  his  accustomed  collation  at 
eleven  o'clock.  Louis  consequently  retired  after 
a  brief  conference  with  Bouvard.  He  had  scarcely 
seated  himself  at  table  when  the  sound  of  a  great 
commotion  was  heard,  and  several  messengers 
rushed  unceremoniously  into  the  royal  presence 
with  the  news  that  the  Queen's  delivery  was  near. 
Shouts  of  exultation  greeted  the  King  as  he  again 
approached  the  chamber.  "  C'est  un  Dauphin ! 
C'est  un  Dauphin  !  "  Madame  de  Senece  met  the 
King  at  the  door  of  the  chamber  and  placed  in 
his  arms  the  new-born  babe,  who  gave  token  of 
vigour  by  shrill  cries.36  The  company  simultane- 
ously gave  thanks  on  their  knees  to  Providence 
for  so  inestimable  a  gift. 

The  Queen  meantime,  overwhelmed  with   the 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  447 

tumult  and  the  heat,  fainted  away  ;  but  presently 
reviving,  she  clasped  her  hands  and  returned 
thanks  to  God  for  her  preservation,  and  for  the 
birth  of  a  Dauphin,  who  was  brought  to  her  by 
the  Dame  de  Giraudiere,  his  wet-nurse.  As  yet 
the  King  had  never  approached  the  couch  of  his 
consort.  Anne  had  now  given  a  Dauphin  to 
France ;  Louis  heard  himself  hailed  as  happy 
father  and  fortunate  prince  !  Etiquette  there- 
fore required  that  congratulations  between  the 
royal  pair  shoud  be  exchanged  in  the  presence  of 
the  august  personages  around.  "  The  King," 
relates  Madame  de  Motteville,  "  was  obliged  to 
be  urged  to  approach  the  Queen  his  consort  and 
to  embrace  her  after  her  accouchement. ' '  The  child, 
by  the  command  of  the  King,  was  immediately 
baptized  by  the  Bishop  of  Meaux,  and  received 
the  name  of  Louis. 

During  the  hour  of  his  wife's  greatest  peril  the 
King  stood  at  a  window  talking  to  Madame  de 
Hautefort.  This  discourse  is  reported  by  the 
author  of  the  "  Life  of  Madame  de  Hautefort," 
lately  published  for  the  first  time  by  M.  Cousin. 
The  author  who  describes  herself  as  the  intimate 
friend,  and  one  of  the  last  earthly  companions  of 
Marie  de  Hautefort,  vouches  for  the  perfect 
accuracy  of  her  narrative.  A  passage  so  strange 
and  painful  requires  almost  the  confirmation  of 
more  than  one  narrator ;  nevertheless  the  conduct 
of  the  King  throughout  the  hours  preceding 
the  birth  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  the  indifference  he 
afterwards  manifested  towards  the  Queen,  give 


448  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1637- 

an  aspect  of  truth  to  the  statement,  which  must 
prevent  it  from  being  altogether  rejected  as 
apocryphal.  "  The  King,  seeing  Madame  de 
Hautefort  standing  near  a  window,  approached 
her.  Perceiving  that  she  was  weeping,  the  King 
in  a  whisper  bade  her  not  afflict  herself  so  greatly 
as  she  had  no  reason  to  do  so.  Madame  de  Haute- 
fort, surprised  to  hear  such  a  speech  at  a  moment 
so  critical,  replied  angrily  '  that  she  wondered  at 
the  unfeeling  observation  of  his  Majesty,  consider- 
ing the  dangerous  condition  of  the  Queen.'  The 
King,  with  a  cheerful  manner,  said  '  I  shall  be 
pleased  enough  if  they  save  the  child — it  is  quite 
enough.  You,  Madame,  I  think,  would  find  no 
reason  to  regret  the  loss  of  the  mother  ! '  Madame 
de  Hautefort  thereupon  cast  down  her  eyes,  and 
showed  plainly  to  the  King  that  she  had  no 
pleasure  in  such  discourse.  The  Queen  passed  a 
bad  night.  His  Majesty  also  never  slept  nor 
retired  to  bed,  but  occupied  himself  with  La 
Chesnaie,  one  of  his  principal  valets  de  chambre, 
in  examining  a  History  of  France,  to  find  a  pre- 
cedent for  the  marriage  of  a  King  of  France  with 
a  subject." 

At  mid-day,  September  5th,  Louis  proceeded 
in  state  to  the  chapel  of  the  castle,  escorted  by  a 
hundred  gentlemen-at-arms,  to  be  present  at  the 
Te  Deum  chaunted  for  the  auspicious  birth  of  a 
Dauphin.  Pontifical  mass  was  next  celebrated, 
during  which  Louis  made  rich  offerings.  The  King 
then  returned  to  the  Queen's  chamber,  to  be 
present  while  M.  le  Dauphin  was  escorted  in  the 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  449 

arms  of  his  nurse  to  his  own  apartments,  which 
were  hung  with  white  silk  damask,  and  where  he 
was  received  by  his  gouvernante,  Madame  la  Mar- 
quise de  Lansac.  Louis  then  held  a  council,  at 
which  missives  were  written  and  despatched  to 
the  potentates  of  Europe  and  to  the  municipal 
authorities  of  the  realm.  In  Paris  the  news  was 
already  known  ;  the  cannon  of  the  Bastille  and 
of  the  Arsenal  thundered  through  the  streets,  and 
the  bells  of  Notre  Dame  and  of  the  Sainte- 
Chapelle  rang  merry  carrillons.  On  the  quay  in 
front  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville  tables  were  spread,  at 
which,  for  three  days,  every  comer  was  welcome 
to  drain  a  goblet  or  to  eat  a  morsel  in  honour  of 
M.  le  Dauphin.  At  night  the  capital  was  a  blaze 
of  illuminations,  such  as  had  never  before  been 
witnessed  ;  fireworks  of  wonderful  conceits  and 
brilliancy  being  also  displayed.  The  fagades  of  the 
Louvre,  the  Tuileries,  the  Palais  Cardinal,  the 
Hotel  d'Aiguillon,  the  Spanish  and  English  Em- 
bassies, shone  with  resplendent  light.  The  festivi- 
ties lasted  for  several  days  with  undiminished 
splendour ;  never  before  had  the  birth  of  an 
heir- apparent  been  celebrated  with  rejoicings  so 
magnificent.  In  the  provinces  the  pageants  almost 
surpassed  in  splendour  and  variety  those  of  the 
capital.  The  great  religious  houses  of  the  realm 
proclaimed  largesse  and  gave  bounteous  alms  and 
prayers.  "  Vive  le  Prince  Dauphin,  Vattente  de  la 
France  !  "  was  the  greeting  often  heard  to  be  ex- 
changed between  individuals  in  the  first  fervour 
of  their  enthusiasm.37 

ti 


450  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1637- 

The  Cardinal  de  Richelieu  meantime  was  at 
St.  Quentin,  directing  the  progress  of  the  campaign 
in  Picardy,  but  more  especially  the  operations  of 
the  siege  of  St.  Omer,  which,  under  the  Marshal 
de  Chatillon,  were  not  attended  with  desirable 
success.  "  The  great  Armand,  Cardinal  Due  de 
Richelieu,  was  at  St.  Quentin  when  he  received 
the  very  happy  and  very  agreeable  news  of  the 
birth  of  a  Dauphin,  by  several  couriers  despatched 
by  their  Majesties,"  relates  Hilarion  de  Coste. 
"  His  Eminence  immediately  repaired  to  the  large 
church  to  chant  the  Canticle  of  Thanksgiving,  and 
to  give  in  person  benediction  to  the  people  who 
flocked  in  numbers  to  the  service.  There  were 
present  Charles  de  Valois,  Due  d'Angouleme,  and 
all  the  lords  in  the  army  of  Picardy,  M.  de  Noyers, 
M.  de  Choisy  and  many  other  privy  councillors. 
His  Eminence  ordered  a  brilliant  display  of  fire- 
works and  a  salute  of  all  the  artillery  in  the 
place."  Richelieu,  on  the  following  day,  enter- 
tained the  officers  at  a  superb  banquet,  and  com- 
manded the  poor  in  St.  Quentin  and  Amiens  to  be 
entertained  at  his  expense.  His  letter  of  congratu- 
lation to  King  Louis  was  terse  but  expressive  : 
"  Sire, — The  birth  of  Monsieur  le  Dauphin  has 
ravished  me  with  joy.  I  pray  that  as  he  is  Theo- 
dosius,  the  gift  which  God  has  given  you,  so  may 
he  be,  by  possession  of  the  great  and  heroic  quali- 
ties which  adorned  the  Emperors  of  that  name. 
I  earnestly  pray  that  God  may  overwhelm  your 
Majesty  with  benedictions  as  many  and  fervent 
as  he  prays  who  is  for  ever  your  Majesty's  devoted 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  451 

subject  and  servant."33  To  the  Queen,  Richelieu 
wrote  :  "  Madame, — Great  joy  is  not  loquacious  ; 
therefore  I  know  not  how  to  express  to  your 
Majesty  that  which  I  feel  for  her  happy  accouche- 
ment, and  for  the  birth  of  Monseigneur  le  Dauphin. 
I  believe  and  trust  that  God  has  given  him  to 
Christendom  to  appease  and  to  allay  troubles, 
and  to  confer  upon  us  the  benediction  of  peace. 
I  vow  to  Monseigneur  from  his  birth  and  hence- 
forth the  devotion  and  zeal  which  has  always 
inspired  me  to  serve  the  King  and  your  Majesty. 
I  am,  your  Majesty's  eternal  and  devoted  subject, 
-The  Cardinal  Due  de  Richelieu."  39 

The  recovery  of  the  Queen  was  rapid,  and  on 
the  26th  of  September  the  ceremony  of  "  church- 
ing "  was  performed  in  Anne's  audience  chamber 
by  the  Bishop  of  Lisieux  and  other  prelates.  The 
King  had  already  quitted  St.  Germain  to  solace 
himself  with  the  pleasures  of  the  chase  at  Chan- 
tilly.  Anne,  now  a  proud  and  happy  mother,  sat 
under  her  canopy  of  state,  Madame  de  Lansac 
standing  on  her  right  holding  the  young  prince. 
While  the  prayers  of  the  Offertory  were  being 
recited,  the  Queen  arose,  and  taking  the  babe  in 
her  arms,  traversed  alone  the  vast  apartment,  and 
kneeling  at  the  altar,  "  made  an  oblation  of  her- 
self and  her  new-born  son  to  the  King  of  Kings, 
and  afterwards  devoutly  received  the  Holy  Eu- 
charist." The  Abbot  of  St.  Denis  and  the  Bishop 
of  Brieux  held  the  stole  over  the  head  of  M.  le 
Dauphin  during  the  ceremonies  at  the  altar.  When 
the  Bishop  of  Lisieux  began  to  read  the  Gospel, 


452  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1637- 

the  royal  child  fixed  his  eyes  earnestly  on  the 
prelate.  It  was  considered,  likewise,  as  remark- 
able that  in  reciting  certain  words  of  the  Gospel, 
when  the  bishop  took  the  hand  of  the  little  Prince, 
he  squeezed  the  prelate's  finger  with  wonderful 
strength  and  vigour.40  On  the  27th  of  September 
Richelieu  arrived  in  Paris,  and  on  Wednesday, 
the  29th,  he  repaired  to  St.  Germain  to  visit  the 
Queen  and  her  son.  Louis  met  the  Cardinal  at  St. 
Germain  and  conducted  him  to  the  presence  of 
her  Majesty.  "  It  would  be  impossible,"  writes  a 
famous  chronicler,  "to  describe  the  transports  of 
his  Eminence  and  with  what  joy  he  was  possessed 
on  beholding  that  admirable  child  in  the  arms  of 
his  mother — a  babe  which  had  been  the  object  of 
his  ardent  aspirations  and  whose  birth  fulfilled 
his  fondest  desires.  His  said  Eminence  then  took 
leave  and  departed  for  Ruel."  41 

As  soon  as  Anne  was  able  to  go  abroad,  the 
King,  Queen  and  court  walked  in  procession  from 
the  Louvre  to  Notre  Dame.  The  shrines  of  St. 
Landry,  St.  Denis,  St.  Eleutherius  and  St.  Gene- 
vie  ve  were  carried  in  the  procession,  which  con- 
sisted of  the  court,  the  ecclesiastics  and  monks 
and  nuns  of  the  capital,  the  trade  guilds  and  the 
municipality  of  Paris.  The  glorious  strains  of  Te 
Deum  Laudamus  echoed  along  the  vaulted  aisles 
of  the  grand  old  cathedral,  while  the  people  on  the 
line  of  procession  rapturously  cheered  the  royal 
pair.  Cardinal  de  Richelieu  and  the  Papal  Nuncio, 
in  pontificalibus,  received  their  Majesties  at  the 
porch  of  the  church  and  preceded  them  to  their 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  453 

chairs  of  state.  The  congratulations  of  his  Holi- 
ness being  especially  cordial,  Louis  wrote  thus  to 
the  Pope  on  the  birth  of  his  son  : 

LOUIS   XIII.    TO    POPE   URBAN   VIII. 

"  VERY  HOLY  FATHER, — As  it  has  pleased 
Almighty  God  always  to  give  us  grace  to  over- 
come tribulations  contrary  to  the  peace  of  our 
realm,  we  ever  maintained  a  good  hope  that  He 
would  at  length  confer  upon  our  royal  consort  and 
ourself  the  one  remaining  blessing  so  ardently 
desired  by  our  subjects.  God  has  at  length  granted 
us  a  son  which  the  Queen  has  brought  forth 
safely.  As  this  child  has  been  given  to  us  many 
years  after  our  marriage,  we  regard  his  birth  as  a 
special  benediction  from  God,  bestowed  upon  us 
and  upon  the  Queen,  and  whilst  we  return  thanks, 
and  while  our  subjects  throng  the  churches  for  the 
same  object  we  have  thought  good  thus  to  address 
your  Holiness. 

"  Your  devoted  son, 

"  Louis."  42 

The  Pope  deputed  Cardinal  Sforza  to  proceed 
to  France  on  a  special  mission  of  congratulation, 
and  to  present  to  the  royal  child  the  splendid 
robes,  cradle,  linen,  cushions  and  hangings, 
blessed  by  the  pontifical  hand — the  customary 
offering  made  by  the  Popes  on  the  birth  of  the 
heir  of  the  Eldest  Son  of  the  Church.43 

When  rejoicing  ceased  for  the  birth  of  M.  le 
Dauphin,  and  excitement  was  allayed,  people  fell 
again  into  their  old  train  of  speculation.  Monsieur 


454  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1637- 

quitted  St.  Germain  declaring  himself  highly 
dissatisfied  and  highly  perplexed,  while  his  ad- 
herents openly  counselled  him  to  take  up  arms  to 
proclaim  the  illegitimacy  of  the  so-called  Dauphin 
and  to  assert  his  own  rights.  In  Paris  itself  a 
pamphlet  of  the  most  scandalous  and  odious 
nature44  appeared,  which  was  eagerly  circulated. 
A  story  was  likewise  whispered,  proceeding,  it  was 
rumoured,  from  the  high  authority  of  a  very 
virtuous  lady  of  the  palace,  that  the  Queen  had 
given  birth  to  twin  sons,  the  last  born  of  whom 
had  immediately  and  mysteriously  disappeared. 
The  friends  of  Monsieur  asserted  that  Chavigny, 
the  Cardinal's  second  self,  had  remained  during 
the  Queen's  labour,  against  all  precedent,  in  the 
antechamber  of  her  oratory,  which  opened  close 
to  the  ruelle  of  the  royal  bed  ;  that  much  mystery 
had  been  observed,  and  that  the  King  had  not 
been  present  when  the  child  called  "  the  Dauphin  " 
was  born — all  of  which  were  allegations  proved  to 
be  true.  Other  writings  were  published,  alleging 
that  for  certain  reasons  well  known  to  many 
the  so-called  Dauphin  could  not  be  the  son  of 
Louis  XIII.45  No  confirmation  of  these  suspicions 
however  could  be  extracted  from  the  placid  mien 
of  the  Cardinal  or  from  the  extreme  veneration 
which  he  displayed  towards  the  royal  babe,  never- 
theless it  was  deemed  strange  that  his  Eminence 
should  have  been  absent  at  St.  Quentin  at  a 
moment  so  important  to  the  realm  as  the  birth  of 
the  future  king.  The  antecedent  history  of  the 
Queen  unfortunately  gave  probability  to  these 


•'''l/l.j's/tt 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  455 

suspicions.  The  events  of  the  year  1637,  though 
arising  altogether  from  her  own  indiscretions, 
were  perilous,  and  the  danger  greater  than  she 
had  ever  previously  incurred.  The  King  was  ready 
to  visit  her  offences  with  the  utmost  possible 
retribution,  being  no  longer  deterred  by  the  fear 
of  a  declaration  of  war  with  Spain,  as  hostilities 
with  that  realm  were  then  absolutely  pending. 
The  dreadful  indispositions  which,  every  six 
months,  menaced  the  life  of  Louis  XIII.,  made 
Richelieu  dread  a  speedy  fall  from  power,  the 
confiscation  of  his  vast  wealth  and  probable 
exile  from  the  realm.  It  was  said,  and  with  what 
truth  may  never  now  be  known,  that  Anne  and 
her  old  enemy  Richelieu,  apprehending  persecu- 
tion and  degradation  on  the  accession  of  the  Duke 
of  Orleans,  combined,  in  order  to  maintain  their 
power  and  influence  ;  that  the  mind  of  the  Queen 
was  hard  and  determined,  and  that  her  detesta- 
tion of  Louis  XIII.  was  such  that  no  crime  against 
him  would  deter  her  from  following  her  own 
interests.  The  silence  of  Marie  de'  Medici  was 
also  looked  upon  as  ominous,  for  the  Queen- 
mother  it  was  averred,  would  on  so  joyful  an 
occasion  have  given  some  signal  mark  of  sym- 
pathy with  the  nation.  King  Louis  XIII.,  never- 
theless, did  not  disown  his  Dauphin  nor  display 
any  doubt  respecting  his  legitimate  birth.  It 
might  be  that  he  shrank  from  a  contest  with  the 
Queen,  supported  by  the  power  of  the  Spanish 
monarchy,  by  Richelieu  and  by  the  wishes  and 
wants  of  the  nation. 


456  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1637- 

In  after  times,  when  in  the  days  of  the  Fronde 
Paris  rose  against  the  Regent  and  her  minister 
Mazarin,  the  conduct  of  Queen  Anne  had  been 
such,  that  many,  who  had  previously  disbelieved 
the  rumours  connected  with  the  birth  of  Louis 
XIV.,  avowed  their  conviction  that  such  surmises 
probably  had  not  arisen  without  foundation. 

As  soon  as  the  Queen  removed  to  the  Louvre  a 
fresh  surprise  awaited  the  public  by  the  dismissal 
of  all  her  chief  ladies — a  measure  which  did  not 
tend  to  allay  the  impertinent  conjectures  current. 
Madame  de  Senece  had  never  become  cordially 
reconciled  to  Richelieu  after  the  profession  of  her 
niece  la  Fayette  ;  she  moreover  dared  to  speak 
and  act  independently  of  the  minister.  The  Mar- 
quise was  a  lady  of  the  highest  rank,  and  possibly 
Richelieu  deemed  it  indispensable  to  appoint  to 
so  confidential  a  post  a  personage  of  less  exalted 
birth,  and  devoted  to  his  will.  Whether  the  Queen 
privately  gave  her  assent  to  this  measure  does  not 
appear — probably  she  did ;  outwardly  however 
she  evinced  dissatisfaction  and  even  sorrow  and 
made  angry  comments  when  the  dismissal  of  her 
old  friend  was  notified  to  her  by  the  following  brief 
note  brought  by  Chavigny,  written  and  signed  by 
the  King. 

"  To  THE  QUEEN. 

"  These  three  words  are  to  inform  you  that  I 
have  resolved,  for  certain  considerations  as  im- 
portant to  you  as  to  myself,  to  dismiss  Madame 
de  Senece,  as  the  Sieur  de  Chavigny  will  more 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  457 

amply  explain  and  in  whose  words  you  will  place 
confidence."  4a 

As  the  Queen  was  accustomed  to  receive  such 
communications  in  a  mutinous  spirit,  which  she 
could  not  at  once  discard,  Richelieu  drew  up  a 
summary  of  the  replies  advisable  for  the  King  to 
adopt  in  answer  to  his  consort's  expected  ex- 
postulations. "  When  her  Majesty  shall  arrive  at 
St.  Germain,  his  Majesty  may,  if  he  so  pleases, 
greet  her  with  the  words  :  '  I  made  known  to  your 
Majesty  that  when  Madame  de  Senece  shall  have 
obeyed  me,  I  will  listen  willingly  to  anything  you 
may  have  to  allege  on  her  behalf.  If  she  has  really 
departed  from  Paris  on  her  way  home,  you  may 
speak,  but  Madame,  before  argument,  I  insist 
upon  obedience.'  Then  if  the  Queen  persists  in 
pursuing  the  discourse,  it  will  be  advisable  for 
your  Majesty  to  add  :  '  You  are  aware  of  the 
many  impertinences  of  which  Madame  de  Senece 
has  been  guilty,  I  have  seen  you  smile  at  them  a 
hundred  times.  You  may  say  that  people  are  not 
dismissed  because  they  sometimes  make  impudent 
speeches.  I  answer  that  I  have  not  banished 
Madame  de  Senece  for  this  cause  only.  You 
also  know  the  kind  of  spirit  which  she  harbours 
towards  him  who  has  the  conduct  of  my  affairs. 
Upon  this  subject  you  probably  know  more  than 
myself,  but  I  also  know  facts  which  are  concealed 
from  you.  I  know  the  persons  whom  she  employs 
to  anger  me  when  I  am  out  of  temper.  I  have 
knowledge  of  the  warnings  which  she  has  given 


458  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1637- 

against  all  truth,  to  certain  persons,  that  I  in- 
tended to  arrest  them.  There  are  many  other 
matters,  and  I  appeal  to  you,  Madame,  whether 
I  should  be  well  advised  to  keep  such  a  person 
at  my  court  ?  '  "  47 

Such  was  the  objurgation  which  Richelieu 
prepared  and  forwarded  to  his  royal  master. 
The  helplessness  of  Louis  XIII.  is  pitiable. 
Whether  Louis  used  the  words  thus  put  into  his 
mouth  is  doubtful,  for  the  Queen  took  the  resig- 
nation of  Madame  de  Senece  with  marvellous 
tranquillity,  appearing  occupied  solely  with  M.  le 
Dauphin  whom  she  drove  out  daily  in  her  coach.48 

The  Countess  de  Brassac  received  the  office 
vacated  by  Madame  de  Senece  :  she  was  a  Ste. 
Maure,49  and  aunt  of  the  Marquis  de  Montausier. 
Her  husband  had  once  professed  the  Huguenot 
faith,  and  had  served  the  cause  as  governor  of  St. 
Jean  d'Angely,  but  like  many  other  officers,  on 
the  fall  of  La  Rochelle,  he  had  conformed  to  the 
orthodox  faith,  and  through  the  patronage  of 
Pere  Joseph,  received  the  splendid  reward  of  the 
government  of  the  provinces  of  Saintonge  and 
Angoumois.  "  Madame  de  Brassac,"  says  Talle- 
mant,  "  was  a  very  gentle  and  modest  person, 
who  understood  Latin  and  amused  herself 
with  theology  and  mathematics.  She  is  said  to 
have  understood  Euclid.  Her  chief  delight  was 
dreamy  meditation.  When  she  was  appointed  as 
lady  of  honour,  she  told  the  Cardinal  that  she 
preferred  a  retired  life,  and  that  it  would  be  easy 
for  him  to  find  another  lady  whom  the  office  would 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  459 

better  suit,  moreover  that  she  could  not  pretend 
to  offer  him  the  services  with  the  Queen  that  his 
Eminence  had  a  right  to  expect.  Nevertheless,  she 
behaved  so  well  that  she  pleased  both  the  Queen 
and  the  Cardinal,  although  the  Gospel  tells  us  that 
we  cannot  serve  two  masters.  The  Queen  praised 
her  to  everybody,  which  is  not  faint  eulogy." 
M.  de  Brassac  received  at  the  same  time  the  office 
of  steward  of  the  Queen's  household,  in  the  room 
of  M.  Sanguin.  The  Bishop  of  Limoges  was  dis- 
missed from  his  office  of  almoner  to  the  Queen, 
which  was  bestowed  on  the  Bishop  of  Lisieux. 
Many  of  the  Queen's  maids,  Mesdemoiselles  de 
Beaumont,  d'Aiches  and  de  Polignac  were  dis- 
missed; other  ladies  were  also  doomed  by  the 
Cardinal,  amongst  whom  were  Madame  de  Haute- 
fort  and  her  grandmother,  Madame  de  la  Flotte — 
for  to  rid  the  court  of  these  personages  Richelieu 
now  discovered  a  way. 

At  this  period,  the  beginning  of  the  year  1639, 
the  Cardinal  stood  high  in  the  good  graces  of  their 
Majesties.  The  cabal  of  the  Queen  and  her  late 
confidentes  looked  on  with  amazement  at  the 
entente  evidently  ratified  between  their  royal  mis- 
tress and  her  late  enemy.  '  The  Queen  receives 
M.  le  Cardinal  with  every  demonstration  of  bien- 
veillant  friendship."  Another  writer,  in  a  letter  to 
the  exiled  Bishop  of  Limoges,  relates :  "  The  loves 
of  the  King  do  not  go  better  than  usual.  On  the 
contrary,  from  bad  to  worse,  as  it  seems.  It  is 
rumoured  that  we  shall  soon  see  further  changes." 
The  secret  of  the  discord  alluded  to  between 


460  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1637- 

Madame  de  Hautefort  and  the  King  was,  that 
after  their  former  quarrel,  Louis  had  promised 
Madame  de  la  Flotte,  dame  d'autors,  the  place  of 
lady  of  honour  whenever  such  became  vacant  by 
the  resignation  of  the  Marquise  de  Senece.  The 
office  having  fallen  at  the  disposal  of  the  crown, 
Marie  de  Hautefort  insisted  that  Madame  de  la 
Flotte  should  be  installed  in  the  coveted  post, 
which  would  have  given  Mademoiselle  de  Haute- 
fort increased  rank  at  court,  as  she  had  been 
gratified  with  the  survivance  of  her  grandmother's 
office,  and  would  therefore  succeed  her  as  dame 
d'atours.  Louis  returned  a  positive  refusal,  and 
stormy  interviews  were  succeeded  by  intervals  of 
sullen  alienation.  Richelieu  had  long  sought  to 
discover  an  antidote  to  the  ill-humours  of  de 
Hautefort,  which  increased  the  morbid  despon- 
dency of  the  King  to  a  degree  often  unpleasantly 
manifested  during  the  transaction  of  business  of 
state.  Not  one  of  the  ladies,  her  companions  in 
office,  was  capable  of  performing  the  role  of  la 
Fayette.  Mademoiselle  de  Chemerault,  who  alone 
seemed  to  attract  any  portion  of  the  royal  notice, 
was  silly  and  frivolous,  and  quite  incapable  of 
sustaining  that  solid  and  sentimental  discourse  in 
which  the  King  professed  to  delight.  Amongst  the 
pages  of  honour  in  the  service  of  Richelieu  was 
Henri  Cinq-Mars  d'Effiat,  youngest  son  of  the 
Marshal  d'Effiat,  a  beautiful  and  brilliant  youth 
of  eighteen,  an  adept  in  all  the  arts  and  pastimes 
of  courts.  The  early  boyhood  of  Cinq-Mars  had 
been  spent  in  the  solitudes  of  his  father's  wild 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  461 

domain  in  Auvergne.  Left  to  his  own  devices,  and 
without  companions  of  his  own  age  or  rank,  Cinq- 
Mars  had  become  a  proficient  in  the  sports  and 
outdoor  pastimes  in  which  boys  of  his  age  de- 
lighted. He  was  an  expert  snarer  of  birds,  a  good 
horseman,  he  could  fish,  wrestle,  run,  and  loved 
the  wild  life  of  the  woods,  through  which  he  used 
to  roam  with  ever-increasing  delight.  At  the  age 
of  fifteen,  the  Marshal 80  sent  for  his  son  and  en- 
rolled him  as  page  in  waiting  to  the  Cardinal,  who 
was  a  kinsman  of  d'Effiat.  Cinq-Mars  quitted 
Auvergne  in  despair ;  but  once  installed  at  the 
Palais  Cardinal,  his  good  looks,  quickness  and 
natural  grace  attracted  the  notice  of  Richelieu. 
The  boy  was  at  once,  by  his  command,  placed 
under  suitable  masters,  all  of  whom  he  enchanted 
by  his  good  humour  and  merry  spirit.  Soon  Cinq- 
Mars  became  the  accomplished  cavalier  and  grand 
gentleman,  and  indulged  to  the  bent  of  his  desires 
by  the  Cardinal,  presently  assumed  the  airs  of  the 
most  finical  petit-maitre.  "  This  young  cavalier," 
writes  a  contemporary,  "  by  the  charm  of  his  dis- 
course and  by  the  grace  of  his  manners  gained 
all  hearts.  Nature  had  lavished  upon  him  choice 
gifts."  Unfortunately  there  was  no  basis  of  educa- 
tion and  moral  culture  to  support  these  brilliant 
but  superficial  gifts.  Cinq-Mars  was  vain,  caprici- 
ous, irritable,  self-indulgent,  and  seeing  himself 
the  idol  of  the  Cardinal's  household,  conceived  so 
high  a  notion  of  his  own  importance  as  greatly  to 
amuse,  but  yet  perplex,  his  patron.  Richelieu 
nevertheless  resolved  to  introduce  Cinq-Mars  to 


462  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1637- 

the  King,  and  moreover  to  recommend  him  to 
Louisas  a  suitable  and  amusing  companion  for  his 
leisure  hours.  He  therefore  gave  him  the  office  of 
master  of  the  wardrobe,  and  recommending  pru- 
dence, submission  and  good  humour,  installed 
Cinq-Mars  in  the  royal  household.  Louis  at  first 
disdained  Cinq-Mars,  whose  levity  had  been  repre- 
sented to  him  by  some  personage  of  the  court  who 
was  probably  jealous  of  the  favourite  page  of  M.  le 
Cardinal.  Among  his  other  gifts,  Cinq-Mars  pos- 
sessed a  melodious  voice,  and  the  King  over- 
hearing him  one  day  singing  some  melancholy 
cadence  from  one  of  the  royal  compositions,  im- 
mediately took  him  into  favour.  The  early  pur- 
suits of  Cinq-Mars  then  greatly  aided  his  rise  to 
favour.  He  talked  to  the  King  of  piscatory  ex- 
ploits, taught  his  Majesty  a  new  way  to  snare 
magpies,  advised  the  King  on  the  management 
of  his  kennels  at  St.  Maur  and  Fontainebleau, 
and  whittled  away  with  Louis  on  the  wooden  toys 
which  his  Majesty  manufactured  during  his  hours  of 
recreation.  After  the  lapse  of  a  few  months,  there- 
fore, the  influence  of  Cinq-Mars  was  in  the  ascen- 
dant and  that  of  Marie  de  Hautef  ort  on  the  decline. 
Meantime,  through  Mademoiselle  de  Cheme- 
rault,  who  was  now  told  to  do  his  bidding,  Riche- 
lieu kept  vigilant  watch  over  the  household  at  St. 
Germain.  In  this  correspondence  the  personages 
of  the  court  have  each  a  nom  de  plume :  for 
instance,  the  King  and  Queen  have  the  sobriquet 
of  Cephale  and  Procris  ;  Madame  de  Hautefort 
is  Aurore ;  Madame  de  Lansac,  La  Baleine ; 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  463 

Madame  de  la  Flotte,  La  Vieille.  The  disorders 
and  the  perpetual  dissensions,  meantime,  arrived 
at  such  a  pitch  that  the  Cardinal  found  it  expe- 
dient to  strike.  He  therefore  humbly  represented 
that  a  further  clearance  of  the  intrigantes  of  the 
court  was  requisite,  unless  his  Majesty  chose  to 
release  him  from  the  burden  of  affairs.  Louis 
abruptly  asked  if  there  was  not  an  antidote 
without  proceeding  to  such  extremity.  Richelieu 
replied  by  cunningly  demanding  the  exile  of 
Madame  de  Hautefort  for  a  fortnight  only,  "  to 
prove  to  unprincipled  agitators  that  the  said  lady 
was  not  the  most  powerful  person  in  the  realm." 
The  King,  who  had  quarrelled  with  de  Hautefort 
on  account  of  some  sarcasms  which  she  had 
uttered  concerning  Cinq-Mars  and  his  airs,  con- 
sented to  the  proposition,  and  desired  his  minister 
to  see  that  his  will  was  notified.  The  day  pre- 
viously Louis  had  returned  from  a  hasty  visit  to 
Amiens,  and  on  seeing  de  Hautefort  in  the  circle, 
he  angrily  accosted  her  in  these  words  :  "  Madame, 
I  understand  that  you  have  been  slandering  Cinq- 
Mars,  take  care  in  future  of  your  words — take 
heed,  I  again  repeat,  or  I  shall  know  how  to 
punish  with  due  severity  1  " 

As  soon  as  the  consent  of  Louis  had  been  ex- 
torted, Richelieu  despatched  Chavigny  to  signify 
to  Madame  de  Hautefort  the  order  for  her  depar- 
ture on  the  morrow,  without  farewell  audience  of 
the  King.  He  also  recommended  that  Madame  de 
la  Flotte  and  Mademoiselle  de  Chemerault  should 
likewise  retire  for  a  season.  In  one  of  their  most 


464  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1637- 

confidential  interviews,  however,  Louis  had  ad- 
jured and  commanded  Madame  de  Hautefort  on 
no  account  to  quit  the  court  without  obtaining  an 
interview  with  him,  in  defiance  even  of  his  own 
assumed  command.     She  therefore  determined  to 
brave  the  wrath  of  the  Cardinal  and  not  to  leave 
Paris  without  an  audience.  Indignation  and  pique 
at  treatment  so  unceremonious  agitated  Marie  de 
Hautefort,  and  she  flew  to  the  Queen's  chamber 
to  impart  the  news.     Anne  wept  and  sobbed  aloud 
as  she  clasped  her  friend  in  her  arms.    The  Queen, 
however,    declined    to  interfere,   but   suggested 
that  probably  the  report  of  her  approaching  mar- 
riage with  M.  le  Comte  de  Gesvres  had  angered  the 
King,  and  which  a  few  words  would  explain.   The 
homage  of  the  brave  young  Count  de  Gesvres, 
captain  of   the  King's  guards,  had  been    com- 
placently received  by  Madame  de  Hautefort,  who 
weary  of    cabals   naturally  inclined  towards  so 
advantageous  an  alliance.     The  cancans  of  the 
court  reached  the  King's  ear  during  his  visit  to 
the  camp.  Inflamed  with  wrathful  jealousy,  Louis 
sent  an  exempt  of  the  royal  guard  to  M.   de 
Tresmes,   father  of  de   Gesvres,   to  express   his 
indignation  that  the  latter  had  presumed  to  seek 
the  hand  of  la  Dame  de  Hautefort,  domestique  de 
la  Reyne,  without  his  royal  permission ;    but  as 
such  indecorum  had  been  committed,  the  King 
commanded  M.  de  Gesvres  to  espouse  the  said 
lady  before  the  approaching  season  of  Lent.  If  the 
said  de  Gesvres  declined  to  do  so,  the  Count  de 
Tresmes,  under  peril  of  the  royal  displeasure,  was 


1639J  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  465 

to  seek  out  another  bride  for  his  son  before  the 
above-mentioned  period.  The  displeasure  of 
Louis  XIII.  was  no  passing  cloud,  both  de 
Gesvres  and  his  father  disavowed  the  intention — 
the  former  thanking  his  Majesty  for  the  gracious 
permission  he  had  given  him  to  seek  the  hand  of 
Madame  de  Hautefort  in  marriage.  Returning  to 
St.  Germain  after  this  piece  of  tyranny,  the  King, 
embittered  by  his  past  annoyance,  addressed  the 
severe  reproof  to  Marie  concerning  Cinq- Mars. 
Richelieu  knew  how  to  time  his  opportunities,  and 
probably  insinuated  that  a  temporary  exile  would 
render  de  Hautefort  more  submissive  and  careful 
for  the  future.61 

Madame  de  Hautefort,  early  the  following 
morning,  presented  herself  at  the  door  of  the  royal 
apartment  to  see  the  King  before  he  proceeded  to 
hear  mass.  The  halberts  of  the  sentinels  were 
instantly  crossed  to  bar  her  ingress  into  the  apart- 
ment, while  the  officer  in  the  guard-chamber 
explained  "  that  the  King  had  given  orders  to  deny 
admittance  to  Madame  de  Hautefort."  Pale  with 
anger,  Marie  refraining  from  useless  clamour 
descended  to  the  guard-chamber  through  which 
the  King  had  necessarily  to  pass  on  leaving  the 
chapel.  As  she  waited  there,  perhaps  bitter 
thoughts  crossed  the  mind  of  Marie  de  Hautefort 
of  another  adventure,  when  in  a  still  more  gloomy 
chamber  she  had  borne  the  jibes  and  curious 
glances  of  the  soldiers,  on  behalf  of  a  royal  mis- 
tress who  now  declined  to  make  one  single  effort 
on  her  behalf.  After  a  short  interval  the  door 

2« 


466  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1637- 

opened,  and  Louis  leisurely  entered  attended  by 
Cinq-Mars  and  followed  at  a  little  distance  by  a 
troop  of  courtiers.  He  started  when  he  beheld 
Madame  de  Hautefort  and  retreated  a  step  in 
confusion.  Marie  approached  with  dignity : 
"  Sire,"  said  she,  "  relying  on  your  royal  word, 
I  have  not  believed  or  obeyed  the  order  which  I 
have  received  in  your  name  to  leave  the  court, 
neither,  after  your  protestations,  can  I  believe  it 
unless  I  receive  the  command  from  your  own 
lips !  "  Louis  confusedly  replied  "  that  he  had 
given  such  command  and  avowed  it,  and  that 
her  exile  was  to  extend  over  only  fifteen  days,  to 
which  he  had  assented  with  extreme  regret  for 
certain  important  reasons  of  state  !  5:  "  Sire,  the 
fifteen  days  will  extend  to  the  end  of  your  Majesty's 
life !  Therefore  I  bid  you  eternal  farewell !  "  Louis 
made  no  reply  but  hurriedly  passed  on.62 

Madame  de  Hautefort,  perceiving  that  appeal 
would  be  useless,  and  irritated  by  a  low  and  mock- 
ing obeisance  from  M.  de  Cinq-Mars  as  he  passed 
her,  retired  and  prepared  for  immediate  depar- 
ture. Her  last  interview  with  the  Queen  added  to 
her  discomposure.  Anne,  though  she  took  from 
her  own  ears  a  pair  of  superb  diamond  earrings  and 
gave  them  to  de  Hautefort,  yet  manifested  a  calm- 
ness and  indifference  most  mortifying.  When 
informed  that  Mademoiselle  de  Chemerault  had 
likewise  been  dismissed,  Anne  declined  to  make 
her  a  parting  gift,  or  to  give  her  a  written  testi- 
monial of  satisfaction  at  her  services.  De  Cheme- 
rault, whom  Madame  de  Hautefort  considered  her 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  467 

bosom  friend,  had  since  the  affair  of  the  Val  de 
Grace  been  the  spy  of  the  Cardinal,  and  had  not 
only  betrayed  her  friend  but  the  Queen  also  in 
various  little  trifles  which  came  under  her  observa- 
tion. Probably  Anne  knew  more  on  this  subject 
than  she  chose  to  avow.  Madame  de  Hautefort 
nevertheless,  indignant  at  her  dismissal  and  at 
the  indifference  manifested  by  their  Majesties, 
addressed  a  letter  of  reproach  to  the  Queen  before 
she  quitted  the  Louvre.  "  Madame,"  wrote  de 
Hautefort  in  the  first  glow  of  her  wrath,53  "  if  I 
might  be  permitted  to  judge  your  Majesty's  senti- 
ments by  my  own,  I  should  never  dare  to  say  to 
you  adieu  for  ever,  dreading  lest  that  cruel  word 
might  endanger  your  life,  as  it  does  my  own  even 
while  I  write  it.  But  as  God  has  conferred  upon 
you  the  gift  of  resignation,  such  as  you  have 
shown  in  many  other  emergencies,  I  should  wrong 
Providence  and  your  own  constancy  if  I  pre- 
sumed to  fancy  that  my  disgrace  and  misfortune 
could  disturb  either  your  health  or  your  repose. 
It  is  therefore  for  ever,  Madame,  that  I  say  to 
you  this  word,  Adieu  !  I  beg  your  Majesty  to 
believe  that  in  whatever  part  of  the  world  fortune 
may  lead  me,  I  shall  persevere  in  that  fidelity  and 
attachment  to  you  which  is  the  true  cause  of  my 
persecution,  regretting  only  not  to  be  able  to 
suffer  more  evils  for  the  love  of  you." 

Madame  de  Hautefort  proceeds  to  rate  the 
Queen  in  the  same  sarcastic  strain  for  her  il- 
liberality  to  Mademoiselle  de  Chemerault,  who 
had  been  dismissed  without  gratuity,  with  the 


468  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1637- 

payment  only  of  her  salary  of  4000  crowns,  "  and 
in  the  same  summary  manner,  Madame,  that  you 
would  discharge  Michelette ! 64  Madame,  if  a  great 
Queen  like  yourself  has  not  money  in  hand  to 
reward  and  help  a  girl  whom  she  has  professed 
to  love,  at  least  a  present  might  be  vouchsafed,  a 
pension  promised,  or  a  letter  written  to  prove  to 
the  girl's  mother  that  your  Majesty  feels  satisfied 
with  her  past  services.  Although  I  have  heard  with 
intense  mortification  the  dread  which  you  now  mani- 
fest to  displease  him55  who  tears  me  from  you,  I 
protest,  Madame,  that  your  timidities  and  conces- 
sions grieve  and  pique  me  more  for  your  own  sake 
than  for  my  own,  as  I  might  find  consolation  for  my 
own  wrongs,  if  I  could  be  certain  that  this  injury 
is  the  last  that  you  will  receive  from  his  hands." 
Generous,  warm  -  hearted  and  imprudent, 
Madame  de  Hautefort  left  many  friends  at  court, 
and  the  renown  of  a  spotless  reputation.  She  was 
attended  from  Paris  to  Mans  by  M.  de  Villers,  an 
intimate  friend  of  her  family,  and  followed  by 
the  Marquis  de  Noirmoutier  who  had  long  been 
madly  enamoured  of  her,  and  who  hoped  to 
receive  in  her  adversity  that  encouragement  for 
his  honourable  proposals  which  Madame  de  Haute- 
fort had  before  denied  him  when  at  court.56 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  EIGHT 

1  Cousin,  Vie  de  Madame  de  Hautefort. 

2  Tallemant  des  Reaux,  t.  2. 

3  FranQois,  second  Due  de  la  Rochefoucauld,  born  in  1613,  author  of 
the  Maxims,  and  of  the  History  of  the  Regency  of  Anne  of  Austria.    The 
duke  married   the  only  daughter  and  heiress  of  Andre  de  Vivonne, 
Seigneur  de  la  Chateigneraie.     He  died  March  17,  1680. 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  469 

4  Cousin,  Vie  de  Madame  de  Chevreuse. — Tallemant,  t.  1. 

5  La  Rochefoucauld,  Mem.  p.  326-7,  ft  seq. 

6  Extrait  de  1'Information  faite  par  le  President  Vignier  de  la  sortie 
de  Madame  de  Chevreuse  hors  de  France.  Bibl.  Imp.  Du  Puy.  499-500. 
Published  also  by  M.  Cousin,  Vie  de  Madame  de  Chevreuse. — Mem.  de 
La  Rochefoucauld. 

7  "  Voila  ou  elle  s'assisa  en  me  disant  adieu  ;  et  ou  elle  me  dit  quatre 
paroles  qui  m'assommarent  f  "  exclaimed  the  illiterate  prelate,  in  the 
fervour  of  his  grief.    One  day  he  had  a  melodrama  on  the  story  of 
Mariamne  performed  to  please  the  Duchess  :  "  Monseigneur,"  said  the 
Duchess,  "  il  me  semble  que  nous  ne  sommes  point  touches  de  la  Passion 
comme  de  cette  comedie."     "Je  crois  bien,  Madame,"  replied  the 
Archbishop  ;     "  ceci   c'est  histoire  !      Je  1'ai  lu  dans  Josephe  !  "• 
Tallemant  des  Reaux,  t.  2. 

8  M6m  de  La  Rochefoucauld. — Mem.  de  Motteville. 

9  Bibl.  Imp.  MS.  Suppl.  Fr.  4068.  Nouvelle  Declaration  de  la  Reine— 
de  la  main  de  Le  Gras. 

10  Marie  de  Burges. 

11  Mademoiselle  de  la  Fayette  soon  edified  her  community  by  the  ardour 
of  her  devotions  and  the  ingenuity  of  her  penances.    One  day  some  fruit 
was  served  on  the  refectory  table,  so  worm-eaten  and  covered  with  ants 
as  to  be  rejected  by  the  nuns.    La  SOBUT  Angelique,  however,  ate  the 
fruit  with  unction  as  an  act  of  penance,  to  the  great  admiration  of  the 
sisterhood.      La  Soeur  Angelique  eventually  quitted  the  convent  for 
that  at  Chaillot  which  needed  reform  and  discipline.     She  eventually 
became  abbess  of  this  community,  and  lived  in  intimate  friendship  with 
Queen  Henrietta  Maria,  who  patronised  the  convent,  in  which  she  spent 
much  of  her  time. 

12  Griffet,  Hist,  du  Regne  de  Louis  XIII. 

13  Probably  the  community  of  Avenay  in  the  vicinity  of  Rheims,  which 
had  just  lost  its  young  abbess,  Benedicte  de  Gonzague  de  Cleves-Nevers. 

14  "  II  y  a  trois  semaines  que  nous  cherchons  ce  qui  met  le  Roi  de  si 
mauvaise  humeur,  et  le  voila  trouve  !   Je  vous  promets  que  j'en  infor- 
merai  M.  le  Cardinal  a  votre  avantage,  et  que  vous  serez  bientdt  delivre 
de  toute  inquietude,"  replied  Chavigny,  laughing. — Griffet. 

15  Journal  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu. — Amsterdam. 

16  Griffet,  Regne  de  Louis  XIII. — Bernard,  Hist,  de  Louis  XLTI. 

17  "  On  disoit  du  Pere  Caussin,  '  qu'il  avait  mieux  fait  ses  affaires  a  la 
Cour  Sainte  (in  allusion  to  his  celebrated  book),  qu'a  celle  de  France.'  " 

18  De  Coste.     Eldges  des  Dauphins  de  France. 

19  Ibid.   Fondations  Royales — Discours,  par  1'Abbe  Richard. 

20  Griffet,  Siri,  Dreux  du  Radier,  La  Rochefoucault,  Le  Vassor,  Motte- 
ville, Marana,  Journal  de  Verdun,  &c.  &c. 

21  Quattro  hore  spese  il  re  in  quel  colloquio,  si  che  1'hora  trovatasi 
troppo  tarda  per  ritornare,  quella  notte  nevosissima  (correndo  il  mese  di 
Dicembre),  a  Groisbois,  convenne  per  forza  necessita  dormire  a  Parigi  ; 


470  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1637- 

e  rimasto  il  letto  del  re  a  Groisbois,  la  regina  colla  cena  gli  fece  parte  del 
suo. — Siri.   Hilarion  de  Coste,  Eloges  des  Dauphins  de  France. 

22  In  a  Memoire  sent  by  the  Duchess  to  the  Cardinal  through  Boispille, 
she  assures  his  eminence  of  the  discretion  of  her  conduct  while  resident 
at  the  Spanish  Court :   "  Madame  de  Chevreuse  ne  s'est  obligee  a  rien 
de  tout  en  Espagne  ni  en  Angleterre  ;  ne  se  trouvera  pas  qu'elle  ait  pris 
un  teston  fors  les  bonnes  cheres  et  traitements.    Les  dernieres  paroles 
que  le  roi  d'Espagne  lui  dit  furent,  de  faire  ses  recommandations  en 
Angleterre  ;  et  que  si  elle  allait  en  France  qu'elle  assurat  la  Reine  sa 
bonne-soeur,  de  ses  bonnes  volontes.   Elle  a  parle  comme  elle  devoit  en 
Espagne,  et  croit  que  c'est  une  des  choses  qui  1'a  le  plus  fait  estimer  par 
le  Comte-Duc,  lequel,  elle  croit,  n'a  pas  rabattu  de  1'estime  qu'il  faisoit 
de  son  Eminence." — Bibl.  Imp.  MS.  Colbert. 

23  Cousin,  Vie  de  Madame  de  Chevreuse. 

24  One  day  M.  de  Montbazon  was  conversing  in  the  presence  of  the 
Queens  Marie  de'  Medici  and  Anne  of  Austria,  and  let  slip  the  words : 
"  Vive  Dieu,  je  ne  suis  ni  Italien,  ni  Espagnol ;   je  suis  homme  de 
bien  !  "— Tallemant,  t.  6. 

25  Galerie  des  Personnages  Ulustres  de  la  Cour  de  Louis  XIII.,  t.  4. 
Le  Cardinal  de  Richelieu  a  1'Abbe  Dorat.— MSS.  de  Colbert,  Bibl.  Imp., 
t.  ii.  fol.  18. 

26  Hilarion  de  Coste.   Eloges  des  Dauphins  de  France,  p.  198.   Declara- 
tion du  Roi  par  laquelle  S.  M.  prend  pour  Protectrice  de  ce  Royaume  la 
tres  sainte  Vierge  Marie. — Lancelot  Recueil,  MS. 

27  One  of  these,  Harmonie  de  1'amour,  et  de  la  justice  de  Dieu,  by 
Fra^ois  Davesne,  was  circulated  privately,  and  was  published  never- 
theless in  1650.    Another  pamphlet  written  by  Vergerius,  a  German 
nom  de  plume,  was  also  circulated,  especially  in  England. 

28  Cousin,  Appendice,  Vie  de  Madame  de  Hautefort.     Archives  des 
Affaires  Etrangeres,  t.  88,  fol.  409.   Memoire  pour  Madame  de  Lansac. 

29  Archives  des  Affaires  Etrangeres,  France,  t.   89 ;    Chavigny  au 
Cardinal.   All  published  for  the  first  time  by  M.  Victor  Cousin,  Vie  de 
Madame  de  Hautefort,  Appendice. 

30  Archives  des  Affaires  Etrangeres,  France.     Bullion  au  Cardinal, 
23  Aout,  1638. 

31  Archives  Etrangeres,  France,  t.  89,  fol.  105,  fol.  122. 
52  Godefroy,  Grand  Cerem.  de  France,  t.  2. 

33  Philippe  Cospean. 

34  Dominique  S6guier. 

35  De  Coste.  Eloges  des  Dauphins  de  France. — Godefroy,  Naissance  de 
Monseigneur  le  Dauphin,  a  present  le  Roy  Louis  XIV.,  p.  209,  et  seq. 

36  Vallot,  the  royal  physician  in  ordinary,  attributed  the  strength  and 
liveliness  of  the  child  to  the  copious  doses    of  "  quinquina  et  vin 
emetique,"  which  he  had  caused  the  Queen  to  swallow. 

37  Godefroy,  Grand  Cer6m.  de  France,  t.  ii.  p.  209,  et  seq. — Naissance 
de  Monseigneur  le  Dauphin,  a  present  le  Roy  Louis  XIV. 


1639]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  471 

38  Aubery,  Mem.  pour  servir  a  1'Hist.  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu,  t.  v. 

39  Ibid. 

40  Godefroy,  Grand  Cerem.  de  France,  t.  2. 

41  Ibid.    The  Queen  likewise  received  warm  congratulations  from  the 
Cardinal  de  la  Valette,  and  writes  to  thank  him,  "  et  lui  temoigner  com- 
bien  elle  avait  eu  agreable  la  part  qu'il  prenoit  a  ses  contentements." — 
MS.  Bibl.  Imp.,  F.  Dupuy,  569,  fol.  37. 

42  MS.  Bibl.  Imp.,  Dupuy,  549. 

43  Godefroy,  Grand  Cerem.  de  France. 

44  D'un  Cas  Extraordinaire,  &c.  &c.,  Paris,  1638.     A  suggestion  was 
made  by  this  author,  relative  to  the  favour  bestowed  by  the  Queen  on 
Mazarin.  At  this  early  period  of  Mazarin's  French  career,  he  is  certainly 
unjustly  reflected  upon.     Mazarin  was  created  by  the  Pope  Legate  of 
Avignon,  in  1635.    In  the  year  1636  he  paid  a  brief  visit  to  Paris,  and 
returned  to  Avignon.     In  October  of  the  year  1637  he  was  recalled  to 
Rome  by  the  Pope,  where  he  remained  until  the  year  1639. 

45  The  royal  physician,  Valot,  expresses  himself  thus,  in  a  curious  MS. 
of  the  Bibl.  Imperiale,  brought  to  light  by  M.  Paulin  Paris.    He  says  : 
"  Quela  France  avait  presque  perdu  toutesles  assurances  d'une  heureuse 
succession  ;   car  le  Roi  commencait  a  se  ressentir  d'une  faiblesse  sin- 
guliere  causee  avant  age  par  ses  longues  fatigues  :  et  1'opiniatrete  d'une 
longue  maladie  1 'avait  reduit  en  etat  de  ne  pouvoir  esperer  une  longue 
vie,  ni  une  plus  parfaite  guerison,"  etc. 

46  Archives  des  Affaires  Etrangeres,  t.  88. — Cousin. 

47  Archives  des  Affaires  Etrangeres,  t.  89. — Cousin,  Appendice  Vie  de 
Madame  Hautefort. 

48  "  La  Reine  n'abandonne  guere  le  petit  prince,  qui  est  gros  et  fort. 
Elle  prend  grand  plaisir  a  le  faire  jouer,  et  a  le  mener  promener  dans 
son  carrosse  quand  il  fait  beau  ;  c'est  tout  son  divertissement,  aussi  n'y 
en  a-t-il  point  d'autres  dans  la  cour." — Mademoiselle  Andrieu,  Femme- 
de-chambre  de  la  Reine,  a  Madame  de  Senece. 

49  Catherine  de  Ste.  Maure. 

50  Antoine  Coiffier,  Marquis  d'Effiat,  born  1581,  died  1632  ;    Grand 
Master  of  Artillery,  and  a  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

81  Cousin,  Vie  de  Madame  de  Hautefort. 

52  Ibid.     Dreux  du  Radier,  Vie  de  Madame  de  Hautefort. 

53  Vie  Inedite  de  Madame  de  Hautefort. — Cousin. 

54  Anne  de  Pluviers  de  St.  Michel,  fille-demoiselle  de  la  chambre. 
This  Mademoiselle  de  St.  Michel  appears  likewise  to  have  been  one  of 
the  caballers  of  the  household. 

55  The  Cardinal  de  Richelieu. 

66  Mademoiselle  de  Hautefort  retired,  in  the  first  instance,  from  the 
Louvre  to  the  Convent  des  Dix  Vertus  ou  Madelonettes,  where  she 
remained  some  six  weeks  as  a  boarder.  On  the  27th  of  December,  1639, 
she  quitted  Paris,  "  resolue  comme  un  capitaine,"  as  le  P.  Carre  reported 
to  Richelieu. 


CHAPTER  IX 

1639-1642 

ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  AND  THE  MARQUIS  DE  CINQ-MARS 

THE  agents  of  Richelieu  kept  all  the  banished 
ladies  under  surveillance.  Madame  de  Fargis  had 
sought  refuge  from  persecution  in  Holland,  where 
she  lived  in  extreme  penury,  avenging  herself  for 
her  sufferings  by  surpassing  even  Dutch  pamph- 
leteers in  animosity.  Madame  de  Chevreuse 
continued  to  toy  with  the  great  Cardinal  and 
to  carry  on  a  correspondence,  half-friendly, 
half -menacing.  Richelieu  demanded  unreserved 
confession  of  past  misdemeanours,  unreserved 
submission,  and  unreserved  confidence  in  his  good 
will.  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  almost  broken- 
hearted at  her  prolonged  exile,  complied  at  length 
so  far  as  to  consent  to  sign  a  document  in  which 
"  she  deplored  her  past  bad  conduct,  and 
promised  to  pay  no  more  clandestine  visits  to 
Paris."  *  Richelieu  thereupon  sent  an  agent  to 
London,  with  a  large  sum  of  money  sufficient  to 
acquit  the  debts  of  the  Duchess,  and  a  very  friendly 
letter  exhorting  her  to  return  immediately 
to  Paris.  The  day  was  fixed  for  the  Duchess  to 
present  herself  at  Whitehall  to  say  farewell  to 
their  Britannic  Majesties,  the  coach  which  was 
to  convery  her  to  Dover  was  ordered  and  every 
preparation  made,  when  she  received  the  follow- 

472 


ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  473 

ing  anonymous  letter  of  sufficiently  alarming 
import :  "If  you  love  Madame  de  Chevreuse, 
save  her  from  the  ruin  which  is  sure  to  overtake 
her  in  France.  This  warning  is  not  a  mere 
supposition.  The  advice  I  give  must  be  followed 
if  Madame  de  Chevreuse  wishes  for  security  ;  M. 
le  Cardinal  has  said  too  much  evil  respecting  her 
and  her  traffickings  with  Lorraine  and  Spain  to 
grant  oblivion.  There  is  no  resource  for  Madame 
de  Chevreuse  but  patience  for  the  present,  or 
perdition  attended  with  the  keen  regrets  of  the 
writer."  Neither  date  nor  any  other  indication 
betrayed  the  author  of  this  note.  Madame  de 
Chevreuse  suspected  that  the  writer  was  Queen 
Anne,  but  carefully  suppressed  her  suspicions. 
A  few  hours  subsequently  the  Duke  of  Lorraine, 
who  was  the  devoted  friend  of  the  Duchess,  wrote 
thus  in  dismay  to  protest  against  the  rashness  of 
her  unconditional  return  to  France  :  "  Madame, 
—I  am  advised  that  it  is  the  design  of  M.  le  Car- 
dinal de  Richelieu  to  offer  to  you  every  imagin- 
able concession  to  persuade  you  to  return,  but 
afterwards  he  means  to  cause  you  to  perish 
miserably."  2  The  enmity  of  Richelieu  was  doubt- 
less greatly  exaggerated.  The  probabilities  are 
that  if  Madame  de  Chevreuse  had  returned  she 
would  not  have  been  permitted  to  reside  in  Paris, 
as  the  dislike  manifested  by  the  King  for  the 
partner  of  his  consort's  past  transgressions,  and 
the  newborn  prudence  of  the  Queen,  must  have 
rendered  unavailing  any  counter  entreaty  pre- 
ferred by  the  Duchess.  M.  de  Lorraine,  at  the 


474  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1639- 

period  when  he  thus  addressed  Madame  de 
Chevreuse,  was  actuated  by  intense  indignation 
at  the  protection  accorded  by  King  Louis  to  his 
forsaken  wife  Nicole,  whom  though  the  true 
heiress  of  Lorraine  he  had  abandoned  for  the 
beautiful  Beatrice  de  Cusance,  Princesse  de 
Cantecroix.  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  nevertheless 
declined  to  continue  her  journey  ;  she  showed  the 
warning  letters  to  Boispille,  and  instructed  him 
to  take  copies,  which  he  was  to  lay  on  his  return 
before  M.  le  Cardinal.  The  Duchess,  moreover, 
honourably  returned  the  money  sent  by  Richelieu, 
and  professing  intense  desire  to  receive  an  ex- 
planation from  his  Eminence  relative  to  the 
mysterious  letters  addressed  to  her,  she  prepared 
to  wait  events  in  Brussels.  Another  and  more 
ominous  signal  of  danger  the  Duchess  descried  in 
the  coldness  of  Anne  of  Austria,  and  in  the 
Queen's  marked  change  of  opinion  relative  to  the 
expediency  of  the  return  of  her  friend,  which  until 
recently  she  had  urged  and  discussed  as  perfectly 
feasible.  Seeing  the  Due  de  Chevreuse  one  day 
at  St.  Germain,  Anne  inquired  after  the  health  of 
the  Duchess  his  wife.  The  Duke,  who  was  not 
overburdened  with  wit,  after  satisfying  her 
Majesty,  pathetically  deplored  the  exile  of  his 
dear  consort,  adding  "  that  her  Majesty  was 
responsible  for  her  absence  which  she  might  now 
terminate  at  pleasure."  The  Queen,  in  her  most 
icy  manner  replied,  "  that  M.  le  Due  was  unjust 
to  attribute  the  absence  of  Madame  de  Chevreuse 
to  want  of  zeal  on  her  behalf,  that  she  still  loved 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  475 

the  Duchess  and  would  be  glad  to  see  her, 
nevertheless  she  counselled  her  never  to  return 
to  France !  "  The  result  was  duly  transmitted  to 
the  Duchess  who  wisely  thereupon  resolved  to 
follow  the  counsel.  Much  correspondence  ensued, 
which  is  still  extant,  between  Madame  de 
Chevreuse  and  Richelieu,  but  the  gist  of  all  the 
letters  written  by  the  Duchess  merged  in  the 
remark  with  which  she  terminates  one  of  the  last 
of  the  series :  En  attendant  il  vaut  mieux  souffrir 
que  de  perir" 

Madame  de  Hautefort  led  a  tranquil  though 
unexciting  life  at  the  chateau  de  la  Flotte,  where 
she  was  joined  by  her  mother.  No  further  com- 
munication seems  to  have  passed  between  de 
Hautefort  and  the  King.  Anne's  faithful  servant 
La  Porte  often  partook  of  the  patronage  and  hos- 
pitality of  the  chateau  de  la  Flotte.  Madame  de 
Hautefort  also  made  the  acquaintance  of  Scarron 3 
during  her  exile  in  the  neighbourhood  of  le  Mans, 
and  her  favour  and  countenance  in  happier  times 
first  introduced  the  merry  poet-buffoon  to  the 
salons  of  the  capital.  Madame  de  Senece  lived  in 
a  style  of  feudal  splendour  in  her  grand  old 
ancestral  castle  of  Randan,  maintaining  always  a 
close  correspondence  with  the  court,  in  which 
like  Richelieu  she  had  her  swarm  of  venal  spies 
and  adherents. 

The  King,  meantime,  did  not  find  all  the  satis- 
faction which  he  had  anticipated  in  the  society  of 
his  new  favourite  Cinq-Mars.  The  last  new  habit 
or  the  last  sally  of  boyish  passion  of  M.  de  Cinq- 


476  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1639- 

Mars  sufficed  to  convulse  the  court.  Elated  by 
his  extraordinary  favour  the  head  of  this  young 
cavalier  was  fairly  turned,  his  will  was  law.  He 
entered  the  royal  apartments  at  pleasure,  con- 
tradicted the  King  publicly,  emptied  the  royal 
purse  and  assumed  privileges  which  bewildered 
the  nobles  of  the  grande  entree.  The  first  gift  of 
the  infatuated  Louis  was  a  large  pecuniary  bene- 
faction, given  after  the  capture  of  Hesdin.  In  the 
space  of  a  few  months  the  Due  de  Bellegarde 
resigned  the  office  of  Grand  Ecuyer,  in  considera- 
tion of  an  indemnity  of  100,000  francs,  which  Louis 
immediately  bestowed  on  his  young  favourite.4 
Cinq-Mars  and  his  royal  master  bickered  and 
disputed  like  schoolboys ;  often  their  quarrel 
ended  by  a  written  treaty,  gravely  signed  by 
Louis  and  his  protege,  and  witnessed  by  the 
gentleman  in  waiting.  The  King  kept  a  diary  in 
which  he  regularly  entered  the  details  of  these 
ignoble  quarrels,  which  at  the  end  of  a  certain 
period  his  Majesty  forwarded  to  Richelieu  for 
his  perusal.  Soon  the  lever  of  "  the  young 
adventurer  "  was  crowded  by  veterans,  courtiers 
and  by  ministers,  anxious  for  his  good  word  and 
support  in  the  royal  closet.  These  devoirs  were 
pleasant  to  render.  Cinq-Mars  had  a  sunny 
smile  and  a  voice  most  courteously  toned  for  all, 
he  was  merry  and  communicative,  liberal  with  the 
royal  purse,  and  showed  infinite  relish  for  a  good 
story,  or  for  a  morsel  of  well-flavoured  scandal. 
His  handsome  face  and  good  figure  recommended 
him  to  the  fair  ladies  of  the  court,  some  of 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  477 

whom  rapturously  lauded  in  verse  his  auburn 
curls  daintily  perfumed  with  musk  and  amber- 
gris. Of  the  Cardinal,  Cinq-Mars  stood  in  whole- 
some awe ;  but  yet  a  sensation  of  exulting 
triumph  reigned  when  he  perceived  that  even  the 
great  minister,  his  former  patron,  approached  him 
with  caution  as  if  he  also  was  dazzled  with  the 
greatness  of  his  rise.  So  long  as  Cinq-Mars  aspired 
only  to  lead  the  fashions  of  the  court  and  to 
amuse  the  King's  solitary  hours  Richelieu  per- 
mitted him  to  revel  in  his  self-sufficient  pride. 
Cinq- Mars  paid  profound  respect  to  Anne  of 
Austria,  who  now  lived  in  almost  utter  seclusion 
at  St.  Germain  absorbed  by  her  young  son  and 
by  her  beautiful  gardens.  No  palace  fetes  en- 
livened the  court :  the  stars  of  Paris  society  were 
the  Duchess  d'Aiguillon,  the  Duchess  de  Mont- 
bazon,  Madame  de  Rambouillet,  Madame  de 
Sable,  the  beautiful  Princess  Marie  de  Gonzague 
Nevers,  and  the  Princess  de  Conde.  The  splendid 
entertainments  given  by  these  ladies  were  assid- 
uously frequented  by  M.  de  Cinq-Mars,  who 
soon  excited  the  speculation  of  all  his  friends  by 
the  warmth  of  his  homage  to  the  Princess  Marie 
de  Gonzague  who  had  been  once  secretly  affianced 
to  Monsieur — a  pretension  which  the  King  angrily 
ridiculed.  Another  kind  of  entertainment  which 
Cinq-Mars  patronised  were  the  receptions  of  the 
notorious  courtezan  Marion  de  Lorme ; 5  and 
Louis,  who  loathed  such  irregularities,  perpetually 
tormented  and  irritated  him  by  injunctions  to  fore- 
go this  intimacy.  Cinq-Mars  retorted  insolently ; 


478  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1639- 

and  puzzled  his  Majesty  by  desiring  him  to  ask  his 
Eminence  the  Cardinal  whether  the  soirees  of  such 
a  fascinating  siren  as  the  Demoiselle  de  Lorme 
were  to  be  lightly  relinquished. 

Such  was  the  progress  of  the  domestic  life  of 
King  Louis  until  the  21st  of  September  of  the  year 
1640.  At  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  that  day 
Queen  Anne  presented  her  husband  and  the 
nation  with  a  second  son.  The  Queen  was  ill  only 
for  two  hours  ;  and  the  royal  babe  was  born  in  the 
presence  of  the  King,  and  of  Mesdames  de  Conde, 
de  Vendome,  de  Montmorency,  de  Lansac,  and  de 
Brassac.  The  Cardinal,  as  before,  was  absent 
from  the  capital  at  the  camp  near  Chaunes,  but 
a  messenger  was  immediately  despatched  to  carry 
the  joyful  news  to  his  Eminence.  The  child  was 
baptized  in  the  Queen's  bed-chamber  by  the 
Bishop  of  Meaux  and  was  named  Philip.6  "  I 
have  heard  the  Queen  say  that  the  King  testified 
more  joy  at  the  birth  of  this  son  than  he  did  when 
M.  le  Dauphin  was  born,"  relates  Madame  de 
Motteville.  "  The  reason  doubtless  was  that  his 
Majesty  did  not  expect  the  great  happiness  of 
beholding  himself  the  father  of  two  sons — he  who 
never  hoped  to  see  himself  a  father."  Great  re- 
joicings ensued  throughout  the  realm  for  the  birth 
of  M.  le  Due  d'Anjou ;  the  child  however  was  weak 
and  puny,  and  very  different  in  strength  and 
vivacity  to  Anne's  beautiful  first-born.  Madame 
de  Lansac  had  the  charge  of  both  the  children ; 
but  the  Queen  was  a  devoted  mother,  and  spent 
hours  in  watching  the  slumbers  of  her  infants. 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  479 

From  the  birth  of  Louis,  whom  the  people 
surnamed  Dieu-donne,  Anne  appears  to  have 
relinquished  her  correspondences  with  Spain  and 
with  other  princes  inimical  to  France.  Although 
the  Queen  treated  the  Cardinal  in  public  with  cold 
hauteur,  letters  often  passed  between  them,  and 
it  was  remarked  that  when  she  had  any  petition 
to  prefer  to  the  King  it  was  Richelieu's  assist- 
ance which  she  now  sought.  Madame  d'Aiguillon 
was  evidently  welcome  to  the  Queen,  and  on 
more  than  one  occasion  her  Majesty  accepted 
fetes  from  the  Cardinal  at  Ruel,  where  the  Duchess 
presided  as  hostess — a  condescension  which  she 
had  never  before  vouchsafed.7  The  marriage  of 
the  niece  of  the  Cardinal,  Claire  Clemence  de 
Maille,  with  the  Due  d'Enghien,  son  of  Cond£,  was 
well  received,  against  all  expectation,  by  Anne, 
who  overwhelmed  the  timid  young  bride  with 
caresses  and  favours.  Whilst  M.  d'Enghien  was 
gaining  that  experience  in  arms  which  rendered 
him  one  of  the  greatest  captains  of  the  age,  the 
bride  of  the  future  Great  Conde  was  sent  by  her 
uncle  to  the  convent  of  the  Carmelites  de  St. 
Denis  to  complete  her  education.  "  Our  minis- 
ter," writes  la  Grande  Mademoiselle,8  "  ought 
apparently  to  have  repaid  this  great  honour  of 
alliance  by  marriage  with  the  royal  house,  by 
submission  and  assiduous  duty  to  M.  le  Prince  de 
Conde ;  it  was  quite  the  contrary,  however,  M. 
le  Prince  asked  the  Cardinal  almost  on  his  knees 
to  give  Mademoiselle  de  Breze  to  his  son,  as  if 
she  had  been  the  queen  of  the  whole  world.  To 


480  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1639- 

testify  to  the  minister  that  he  wished  for  no  other 
interests  or  attachments,  he  actually  requested 
him  to  unite  his  nephew,  M.  le  Marquis  de  Breze, 
with  Mademoiselle  de  Bourbon  !  M.  le  Cardinal 
replied  that  he  had  no  objection  to  give  gentle- 
women to  princes,  but  not  simple  gentlemen  to 
princesses  :  he  therefore  only  did  M.  le  Prince  the 
favour  to  grant  Mademoiselle  de  Breze  to  M. 
d'Enghien.  They  were  affianced  in  the  chamber 
of  the  King.  A  ball  followed,  at  which  Made- 
moiselle de  Breze,  being  extremely  little,  fell 
whilst  she  was  dancing  a  couranto,  because  to 
make  her  look  taller  they  had  given  her  such 
high-heeled  shoes  that  she  could  scarcely  stand. 
All  the  company  laughed,  not  excepting  M. 
d'Enghien  who  had  consented  with  great  regret 
to  this  alliance  in  order  not  to  displease  Monsieur, 
his  father." 

In  the  midst  of  all  his  magnificence  and  succes- 
ses the  health  of  Richelieu  languished.  Out- 
wardly the  smooth  intellectual  face  showed  no 
sign  of  suffering,  and  the  upright,  majestic 
figure  bravely  bore  the  burden  of  fifty  years  and 
of  the  political  cares  which  seldom  permitted 
respite  from  toil.  The  Cardinal  constantly 
suffered  from  abscesses  in  his  side  and  on  his 
shoulders,  which  at  times  caused  him  excruciating 
agony.  He  was  subject  also  to  violent  pains  in 
the  head,  and  to  sleeplessness ;  yet  the  bright, 
brave  spirit  struggled  on.  In  the  camp  and  in  the 
council- chamber  Richelieu  was  ever  at  his  post, 
writing  voluminous  despatches  with  a  hand  and 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  481 

arm  sometimes  partially  disabled  by  pain,  but 
alluding  therein  only  casually  to  his  sufferings. 
The  Cardinal  usually  retired  for  the  night  at 
eleven  o'clock  :  he  slept  for  four  hours,  and  at 
three  o'clock  his  secretary  entered  with  writing 
materials  and  a  despatch-box.  Richelieu  rose 
and  dictated  despatches  until  six  o'clock,  when  he 
again  retired  to  bed  for  two  hours.  Every 
Sunday  he  received  the  Holy  Eucharist  at  dawn. 
He  dined  at  one  o'clock,  then  considered  to  be  a 
very  late  hour.  The  afternoon  was  spent  with 
the  King,  in  granting  audiences,  in  receiving 
artists,  men  of  letters,  and  in  taking  exercise  on 
foot  and  an  airing  along  the  fashionable  pro- 
menade of  Paris,  Le  Cours  de  la  Reine,  which  was 
close  to  the  Luxembourg  palace,  the  unfinished 
residence  of  the  unfortunate  Queen-mother.  At 
night  Richelieu  supped  magnificently — a  banquet 
of  which  it  was  considered  the  highest  honour  to 
partake.  Cards,  music  and  conversation  were 
then  the  pastimes  of  the  salons  of  the  Palais 
Cardinal  until  eleven  o'clock,  when  the  Cardinal 
withdrew  except  on  special  occasions. 

Early  in  the  New  Year,  1641,  the  everlasting 
disputes  of  the  King  and  his  favourite  more  than 
ever  harassed  Richelieu.  Both  the  King  and 
Cinq-Mars  appealed  to  him  to  settle  their  silly 
bickerings.  Though  the  torment  was  irksome, 
yet  to  Richelieu  it  was  not  unacceptable  inas- 
much as  it  assured  him  that  his  influence  was 
dominant.  As  a  specimen  of  the  ludicrous  cor- 
respondence which  troubled  the  repose  of  the 

2H 


482  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1639- 

great  minister,  is  the  following  epistle  from  the 
King: 

"  From  St.  Germain,  this  5th  day  of  January,  at 

four  o'clock  of  the  evening,  1641. 
"  I  regret  much  to  trouble  you  again  with  the 
bad  tempers  of  M.  le  Grand.  On  his  return  from 
Ruel  he  gave  me  the  packet  which  you  sent.  I 
opened,  and  read  its  contents.  I  then  said  to  M. 
le  Grand,  *  The  Cardinal  writes  to  me  that  you 
have  testified  to  him  much  anxiety  to  please  me  ; 
nevertheless,  you  still  refrain  from  giving  me 
content  on  a  subject  which  I  often  speak  upon, 
that  is  your  extreme  laziness.'  M.  le  Grand  re- 
plied, '  that  you  had  been  remonstrating  with 
him  thereon;  but  upon  that  chapter  it  was  not 
his  intention  to  change,  nor  did  he  intend  to  do 
better  than  heretofore.'  This  speech  made  me 
angry.  I  said :  '  A  man  of  your  rank  ought  to 
render  himself  worthy  of  high  military  commands, 
you  have  always  assured  me  that  such  is  your 
ambition,  but  idleness,  I  can  tell  you,  is  very  con- 
trary to  such  aspirations.'  He  then  rudely  re- 
plied, *  that  he  had  never  such  idea,  nor  intended 
to  aspire  to  military  commands.'  I  replied  that 
he  had  so  done,  but  refrained  from  pursuing  the 
theme.  I  presently  resumed  my  remarks  upon 
slothfulness,  observing  '  that  this  vice  rendered 
a  man  incapable  of  any  good  thing,  and  that  it 
was  worthy  only  of  the  loungers  of  the  Marais, 
who  thought  of  nothing  but  pleasure  ;  and  that 
if  it  was  his  intention  to  continue  this  life  of  sloth 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  483 

he  had  better  retire  thither.'  He  then  arrogantly 
replied,  '  that  he  was  quite  ready  to  retire.'  I 
then  said — 4  If  I  possessed  not  more  self-control 
than  yourself,  I  know  what  I  should  answer  you  ;  ' 
adding,  that  being  under  such  obligations  to  me, 
he  ought  not  to  speak  in  such  uncouth  fashion. 
M.  le  Grand  then  said,  with  his  usual  insolence, 
4  that  he  did  not  want  my  benefits  and  was  ready 
to  give  me  back  all  that  I  had  bestowed,  and  that 
he  could  do  very  well  without  me,  and  was  just 
as  content  to  be  simply  Cinq-Mars  as  M.  le  Grand ; 
but  as  for  changing  his  habits  and  way  of  life,  he 
could  not  and  would  not.'  We  then  continued  to 
rally  one  another  in  this  manner  until  I  descended 
into  the  courtyard  of  the  castle,  expressing  my 
wish,  'that  while  he  continued  in  the  same  evil 
humour  he  would  refrain  from  presenting  him- 
self before  me.'  He  replied,  '  that  he  would 
willingly  refrain.'  I  have  not  seen  him  since. 
All  this  passed  in  the  presence  and  hearing  of  de 
Gordes.  "  Louis. 

"  P.S.  I  have  shown  this  letter  to  de  Gordes, 
who  testifies  to  have  read  nothing  therein  but  the 
truth."9 

Cinq-Mars,  in  the  same  style  of  excitement, 
writes  on  this  occasion  both  to  Richelieu  and  to 
M.  de  Noyers.  To  the  former  he  prefers  an  en- 
treaty that  he  will  abandon  him  to  his  fate  and  to 
the  anger  of  the  King,  as  he  finds  his  position  at 
court  insupportable.10  To  de  Noyers  he  is  more 
explicit.  "  You  may  judge  of  my  miserable  con- 


484  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1639- 

dition,  by  contemplating  the  extremities  to  which 
I  am  constantly  driven.  I  conjure  you,  if  you 
ever  felt  friendship  for  me,  combine  no  longer  to 
force  upon  me  so  wretched  a  life,  but  consult 
with  his  Eminence  on  the  means  of  my  deliverance 
so  that  the  aversion  of  the  King  may  no  longer 
persecute  me.  This  is  all  that  I  wish  and  all 
that  I  desire.—  -Effiat  de  Cinq-Mars."  "  A  few 
hours  after  writing  these  epistles,  the  King  and  his 
favourite  had  made  friends,  and  had  again  become 
inseparable  to  the  consternation  of  all  persons 
foolish  enough  to  have  interfered  in  the  quarrel. 
Whenever  the  King  sulkily  refused  to  see  Cinq- 
Mars — who  usually  sat  with  his  Majesty  at  night 
until  he  fell  asleep — the  valets  and  pages  in  wait- 
ing concealed  him  in  a  dark  corridor,  and  when 
his  accustomed  time  for  retiring  arrived,  Cinq-Mars 
boldly  walked  from  the  ante-chamber  of  the  royal 
apartment,  bowing  to  the  courtiers  who  waited 
to  attend  him  to  his  own  chamber,  as  if  his  vigil 
had  been  accomplished.  The  attachment  which 
Cinq-Mars  entertained  for  the  Princess  Marie  de 
Gonzague,  and  his  hopes  of  gaining  her  hand, 
gradually  produced  that  reformation  in  his  habits 
which  Louis  had  vainly  recommended.  During 
the  course  of  the  summer  of  1642,  his  self-posses- 
sion and  apparent  steadiness  of  conduct  gained 
for  him  commendation  and  increased  influence 
over  the  mind  of  his  royal  master.  The  silent  but 
irresistible  influence  of  the  Cardinal  minister  from 
thenceforth  set  in,  to  check  the  career  of  the 
favourite  and  to  circumvent  his  ambitious  pro- 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  485 

jects.  Marie  de  Gonzague  bade  Cinq-Mars  obtain 
the  sword  of  Constable  of  France,  with  the  patent 
of  duke  and  peer,  as  the  price  of  her  hand.  One 
day  therefore  M.  le  Grand  with  characteristic 
audacity  waited  on  the  minister  and  asked  for 
the  interest  of  the  latter  to  procure  the  hand  of 
the  Princess  Marie  and  the  rank  of  a  duke. 
Richelieu  eyed  his  suppliant  with  a  glance  of 
mingled  amusement  and  irony ;  chiding  the 
ambitious  young  man  for  his  presumption,  while 
absolutely  refusing  the  patent  he  craved.  "  As 
for  the  Princess  Marie,  you  must  be  crazy,  Mon- 
sieur, to  aspire  to  the  hand  of  a  Princess  who  was 
once  destined  to  be  the  bride  of  Monsieur  ;  while 
Madame  Marie  herself  is  mad  if  she  has  given  you 
the  encouragement  you  are  bold  enough  to  pro- 
claim!"12 Cinq-Mars  however  believed  in  his 
own  destiny,  and  in  the  attachment  of  Marie  de 
Gonzague.  He  haughtily  left  the  presence  of 
Richelieu,  resolved  as  he  declared  to  follow  the 
example  of  the  late  Duke  de  Luynes — who  foiled 
the  Queen- mother,  and  had  won  the  baton  of 
Constable  of  France  and  with  it  the  hand  of 
Marie  de  Rohan. 

Some  time  elapsed,  and  it  happened  that  M.  le 
Grand  was  with  the  King,  when  Richelieu  and  the 
lords  of  the  privy  council  entered  to  confer  with 
his  Majesty.  Louis,  after  some  hesitation,  took 
his  favourite  by  the  hand,  saying  in  a  weak  voice 
addressing  Richelieu  : — "In  order  that  this,  my 
dearest  friend,  may  one  day  be  capable  of  serving 
me,  it  is  my  will  that  he  now  takes  his  seat  in  my 


486  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         peso- 

council."  The  Cardinal  smiled  his  affable  smile, 
complimented  M.  le  Grand,  but  submitted  to  his 
royal  master  documents  of  trivial  moment  only, 
and  took  his  leave.  At  the  usual  hour  Richelieu 
had  his  private  audience  :  M.  de  Cinq-Mars  was 
then  summoned,  and  briefly  informed  by  the  King, 
in  his  driest  voice,  that  his  admission  to  the 
council-board  was  cancelled !  The  King  also 
added  several  uncomplimentary  allusions  to  the 
dissipations  in  which  he  was  informed  that 
M.  le  Grand  habitually  indulged.13  From  that 
moment  Cinq-Mars  was  the  deadly  enemy  of 
Richelieu,  and  resolved  to  compass  his  overthrow 
or  to  perish  in  the  attempt.  The  old  elements  of 
cabal  were  still  dispersed  throughout  the  realm, 
but  a  wiser  and  more  subtle  man  than  Cinq-Mars 
would  have  avoided  renewing  the  life  and  vitality 
of  a  combination  which  had  always  dissolved 
before  the  test  of  Richelieu's  genius.  There  was 
Monsieur  pining  in  discontent  at  Blois,  wiiose 
mind  was  always  in  a  chronic  state  of  rebellion ; 
there  was  the  Duke  de  Bouillon,  whose  stronghold 
of  Sedan  rendered  him  a  giant  in  civil  commo- 
tions, who  had  just  coyly  accepted  the  minister's 
overtures  of  reconciliation,  and  had  been  invested 
with  the  command-in-chief  of  the  army  of  Italy ; 
there  was  Madame  de  Chevreuse  and  Queen  Marie 
de'  Medici — exiles,  women  of  parts  and  vindic- 
tive, ready  to  assail  their  foe  even  with  the 
weapons  of  treason ;  there  was  moreover  Queen 
Anne  of  Austria,  still  shy,  reserved  and  supposed 
to  be  devoted  to  her  brothers ;  and  still  the  un- 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  487 

relenting  opponent  of  Richelieu.  The  change  in 
Anne's  position  was  not  considered  ;  for  it  never 
entered  the  calculations  of  the  eager  conspirators 
that  the  mother  of  the  Dauphin  of  France  might 
be  inspired  with  other  views  and  designs  than  the 
narrow  prejudices  which  had  actuated  the  child- 
less Queen.14  The  aim  of  the  new  conspiracy 
professed  to  provide  for  the  government  of  the 
realm  after  the  death  of  the  King,  to  secure  to 
the  Duke  of  Orleans  his  rights  as  lieutenant- 
general  of  the  realm,  and  to  the  Queen  her  law- 
ful position  as  guardian  and  tutoress  of  the  young 
King.  To  render  this  distribution  of  power  even- 
tually possible,  it  was  deemed  necessary  to  over- 
throw Richelieu,  to  annihilate  his  power  by  the 
authority  of  the  King,  and  to  divide  among  the 
princes  of  the  blood  the  functions  which  he  had 
usurped.  The  personage  who  negotiated  the 
treaty  between  Cinq-Mars,  the  Duke  de  Bouillon, 
and  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  was  M.  de  Thou,  the 
eldest  son  of  the  famous  historian  of  that  name. 
De  Thou  had  also  certain  liberty  of  access  to  the 
presence  of  Anne  of  Austria,  as  in  former  days  he 
had  advanced  money  at  the  request  of  her  Majesty 
to  assist  the  necessity  of  the  Duchess  de  Chevreuse 
and  other  of  the  banished  ladies.  Monsieur 
eagerly  entered  into  a  conspiracy,  the  aim  of 
which  was  to  exalt  him  so  highly.  Bouillon  also 
suffered  himself  to  be  persuaded — the  object  of 
the  conspiracy,  he  flattered  himself,  was  patriotic, 
and  trenched  neither  on  the  royal  power  nor  the 
prerogative. 


488  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1639- 

Meantime,  Cinq-Mars  laboured  assiduously  to 
imbitter  the  spirit  of  Louis  against  his  minister ; 
all  Richelieu's  shortcomings  were  aggravated,  his 
omissions  proclaimed,  and  the  suspicions  with 
which  the  world  had  echoed  were  assiduously 
poured  into  the  royal  ear.  The  faults  of  M. 
d'Orleans  were  on  the  contrary  palliated,  and 
a  pathetic  picture  was  drawn  by  the  wily  favourite 
of  Monsieur's  unhappy  condition,  banished  from 
the  heart  and  the  court  of  his  brother  and  sub- 
jected to  a  surveillance  dishonouring  to  the  royal 
blood.  Maudlin  tears  ran  from  the  King's  eyes  as 
Cinq-Mars  drew  an  affecting  picture  of  the  perse- 
cution and  restraints  to  which  his  Majesty  was 
himself  subjected  by  his  ungrateful  minister. 
Finally  Cinq-Mars  wept  himself  at  the  scenes 
which  his  imagination  portrayed.  Louis,  who 
never  enjoyed  a  luxury  so  keen  as  that  conferred 
by  a  sentimental  scene  of  the  kind,  replied  in 
broken  murmurs  to  the  plaints  of  his  favourite, 
echoed  all  his  aspirations  for  release  from  a  condi- 
tion of  such  grinding  tyranny,  pitied  his  brother, 
and  groaned  under  the  burden  of  the  sin  and 
the  cost  of  a  war  directed  against  the  orthodox 
dynasties  of  Austria  and  Spain.  Cinq-Mars,  young, 
inexperienced  and  unacquainted  with  the  wonder- 
ful calibre  of  the  royal  mind,  fell  into  raptures  of 
gratified  ambition.  Puffed  up  with  conceit,  M.  le 
Grand  clasped  the  King  in  his  arms  and  besought 
him  to  trust  to  him  for  aid  and  deliverance,  boast- 
ing that  he  had  conceived  a  project  which  ere  long 
would  bring  them  happy  emancipation.  Louis 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  489 

started,  looked  curiously  on  his  young  favourite 
and  solemnly  bade  him  beware  of  the  arts  and 
irresistible  power  of  M.  le  Cardinal.     Cinq-Mars 
smiled,  entreated  Louis  to  be  silent  and  cautious, 
to  invite  M.  d'Orleans  to  court,  and  steadily  to 
decline  the  proposal  of  the  Cardinal  to  undertake 
the  siege  of  the  fortress  of  Perpignan  in  person.15 
Won  by  the  caresses  and  submissiveness  of  his 
favourite,  and  really  shrinking  from  the  yoke  of 
Richelieu,  Louis  became  gloomy  in  the  company 
of  his  minister,  but  not  communicative.    Sickness 
and    repeated    meditations    on    death,    and   the 
almost  daily  use  of  the  confessional,  had  rendered 
the  King  unwilling  to  pursue  the  war  or  to  remain 
the  ally  of  the  heretic  sovereigns  of  Europe.    The 
aptness  of  Cinq-Mars,  his  newly  adopted  habits  of 
industry,  and  his  majestic  person  as  it  ripened 
into  manhood  inspired  Louis  writh  the  hope  that 
he  had  at  length  found  a  minister  able  to  bear  the 
burden  of  affairs,  and  also  to  become  the  delight 
and  companion  of  his  own  leisure  hours.     The 
eloquence  of  M.  le  Grand  had  done  more  to  under- 
mine the  power  of  the  Cardinal  de  Richelieu  than 
the  machinations  of  any  previous  enemy.   A  plot, 
however,  under  the  guidance  of  Monsieur,  directed 
by  the  inspirations  of  M.  de  Cinq-Mars,  imbibed 
from  the  fitful  humours  of  his  royal  master,  was 
almost  certain  to  fail  in  some  important  link.  The 
first   overtures   had  been  wilily  concerted ;    dis- 
content was  rampant  amongst  the  high  noblesse 
of  the  realm,  and  a  coalition  amongst  the  friends 
and  adherents  of  the  banished  nobles,  such  as  the 


490  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1639- 

Dukes  de  Vendome,  de  Bellegarde,  de  la  Valette, 
and  d'Elbceuf,  might  have  seriously  embarrassed 
the  government  of  Richelieu.  The  chief  conspira- 
tors, however,  Cinq-Mars,  Bouillon  and  Monsieur, 
wanted  speedy  action — the  minister  held  posses- 
sion of  the  fortified  places  of  the  realm ;  the 
humour  of  the  King  might  change ;  the  co-opera- 
tion of  Anne  of  Austria  seemed  uncertain — against 
the  urgent  counsel  and  entreaties  of  M.  de  Thou, 
it  was  therefore  resolved  to  negotiate  a  treaty 
with  Spain.  One  M.  de  Fontrailles,  cousin  to  Cinq- 
Mars,  a  person  of  wit,  judgment  and  courage, 
was  chosen  for  the  dangerous  mission  to  Madrid. 
Fontrailles  had  a  deformed  person,  and  specially 
detested  the  minister  for  some  sharp  witticisms 
which  had  greatly  wounded  his  vanity.18  Fon- 
trailles, therefore,  departed  for  Madrid,  em- 
powered to  place  the  realm  of  France  under  the 
protection  of  Philip  IV.  The  Catholic  King  was 
to  be  asked  for  a  subsidy  and  for  troops  to  garrison 
Sedan  and  other  places,  and  also  to  give  a  pledge 
that  Spanish  troops  should  enter  France  at  the 
bidding  of  the  conspirators.  The  Count-duke 
hesitated,  so  many  intended  invasions  of  France 
had  brought  disgrace  to  the  arms  of  Spain,  and 
ruin  to  the  promoters  of  such  design.  The  name 
of  Monsieur  no  longer  carried  prestige,  for  his 
inconstancy  and  want  of  mental  balance  pre- 
cluded confidence.  When  informed,  however, 
that  Cinq- Mars  and  the  Duke  de  Bouillon  were  to 
be  partners  in  the  proposed  treaty,  Olivarez,  with 
some  misgiving,  accepted  the  alliance,  as  any 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  491 

diversion  likely  to  draw  off  the  armies  of  France 
from  before  Perpignan  might  be  considered  an 
advantage.  It  was  first  expressly  stipulated  that 
no  enterprise  should  be  undertaken  at  variance 
with  the  interests  of  Queen  Anne  or  of  M.  le 
Dauphin  and  his  brother.17  The  document  pro- 
vided that  Philip  IV.  should  furnish  a  force  of 
12,000  foot  soldiers  and  of  5000  horse ;  that  a  sum 
of  400,000  crowns  should  be  placed  at  the  disposal 
of  the  confederates  ;  that  Sedan  should  be  garri- 
soned with  Spaniards  on  the  written  request  of 
Bouillon  ;  and  that  that  fortress  should  be  placed 
at  the  disposal  of  the  Queen,  should  she  deem  it 
prudent  to  flee  thither  for  refuge  with  M.  le 
Dauphin, — for  which  purpose  300,000  livres  were 
to  be  provided  by  his  Catholic  Majesty  for  the 
strengthening  of  the  fortifications.18  The  expe- 
diency of  removing  the  principal  obstacles  to  the 
designs  of  the  confederates,  by  taking  the  life  of 
Richelieu,  was  discussed  and  enjoined  on  M.  de 
Fontrailles  to  recommend  to  his  patrons.  This 
treaty,  being  signed  by  Philip  IV.,  was  brought 
back  to  France  in  triumph  by  Fontrailles,  who 
repaired  with  it  to  Chambord,  where  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  was  enjoying  the  pleasures  of  the  chase 
as  unconcernedly  as  if  no  momentous  issue  de- 
pended on  his  fidelity  and  prudence.  Fontrailles 
then  left  the  realm ;  no  persuasion  sufficing  to 
induce  him  to  incur  the  risk  and  the  certain  ruin 
of  a  premature  discovery  of  the  treaty  which  he 
had  negotiated. 
The  Due  de  Bouillon,  meantime,  had  joined  the 


492  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1639- 

army  in  Italy,  having  first  signed  an  order  ad- 
dressed to  his  commandant  in  Sedan,  empowering 
that  officer  to  deliver  up  the  fortress  on  any  sum- 
mons from  Monsieur,  from  Queen  Anne,  or  from 
M.  le  Grand.  The  negotiations  with  Spain,  mean- 
time, were  not  of  course  confided  to  King  Louis. 
As  long  as  the  secret  of  a  conspiracy  was  hidden 
from  the  Cardinal  and  its  object  the  downfall  only 
of  Richelieu,  to  be  brought  about  by  a  confederacy 
of  French  nobles,  the  King  evidently  had  no  objec- 
tion to  the  undignified  position  of  one  of  the  cabal. 
In  their  foolhardy  presumption,  Cinq-Mars  and 
Bouillon  and  the  Duke  of  Orleans  had  now  ven- 
tured many  steps  farther ;  they  had  insolently 
trenched  on  the  prerogative  in  providing  for  the 
future  government  of  the  realm,  and  had  rendered 
themselves  guilty  of  high  treason  by  the  crimes 
of  speculating  on  the  demise  of  the  King,  and  by 
negotiations  with  a  foreign  power — than  which,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  jealous  and  sombre  Louis,  there 
could  be  no  more  abominable  offence.  A  con- 
spiracy to  bring  about  the  fall  of  an  obnoxious 
minister,  having  the  sovereign  as  its  true,  though 
concealed  leader,  needed  no  foreign  aid  to  compass 
its  end.  The  progress,  however,  was  slower  than 
suited  the  keen  fears  of  Cinq-Mars  and  Bouillon. 
The  dubious  conduct  of  Anne  of  Austria  perplexed 
them  and  inspired  dread.  Without  due  caution 
they  had  confided  to  her  the  outline  of  their  first 
project ;  but  Anne  had  since  sedulously  avoided 
intercourse  with  M.  le  Grand.  When  some  of  the 
details  of  the  plot — which,  as  long  as  the  conspira- 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  493 

tors  were  only  subjects  and  Frenchmen,  was 
declared  to  be  undertaken  to  secure  the  eventual 
rights  of  Monsieur,  brother  of  the  King — were  con- 
fided to  her  Majesty  by  M.  de  Thou,  she  had  ex- 
hibited the  greatest  agitation  and  had  commanded 
silence.  The  suspicion,  therefore,  flashed  on  the 
minds  of  the  three  conspirators  that  after  all  the 
surmise  might  be  true,  that  Anne  and  her  recon- 
ciled but  late  enemy  had  privately  resolved  the 
matter  of  the  rights  of  Monsieur  and  the  future 
government  of  the  realm,  and  that  her  Majesty 
was  not  inspired  with  any  desire  to  behold  the 
claims  of  Monsieur  vindicated.  On  the  first  word, 
therefore,  spoken  by  Anne  of  Austria,  Riche- 
lieu held  their  lives  in  his  hand.  To  save  them- 
selves from  this  peril,  Cinq-Mars  had  resorted  to 
the  expedient  of  a  treaty  with  Spain — the  be- 
loved Spain  of  Anne's  youthful  years — making 
therein  a  distinct  recognition  of  the  claims  of  the 
Queen  to  the  regency  in  the  event  of  a  minority. 
Anne,  however,  steadily  declined  any  communica- 
tion, hints  were  lost  upon  her,  and  each  of  the 
ladies  in  intimate  daily  commune  had  been  placed 
in  the  palace  by  Richelieu.19  One  day  Cinq-Mars 
pointedly  asked  the  Queen  whether  she  had  lately 
heard  from  the  King  her  brother  ?  Anne  replied 
in  a  voice  made  purposely  audible  to  every  one 
present,  "  that  she  had  altogether  refrained, 
during  many  months  past,  from  correspondence 
with  his  Catholic  Majesty  or  with  any  Spanish 
personage,  such  intercourse  having  been  forbidden 
by  her  lord  the  King."  The  communication, 


494  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1639- 

therefore,  of  the  treaty  concluded  with  Spain 
seems  to  have  been  deferred  and  left  to  the 
ambassador  of  his  Catholic  Majesty. 

Cinq- Mars  attended  his  royal  master  from  St. 
Germain  on  the  23rd  of  January  to  Perpignan, 
while  Anne  seems  to  have  permitted  Richelieu  to 
leave  Paris  for  the  seat  of  war  without  revealing 
the  important  secret,  as  far  as  it  had  come  to  her 
knowledge,  nor  did  she  even  make  an  attempt  to 
lighten  the  cloud  of  apprehended  disgrace  which 
pressed  upon  the  mind  of  the  minister.  The  Queen 
appears  to  have  been  restrained  by  a  certain  sense 
of  honour  from  making  revelations  confided  to 
her  in  the  belief  that  she  was  swayed  by  former 
political  partialities ;  probably  she  also  hoped, 
knowing  or  suspecting  nothing  of  the  negotiations 
with  her  brother,  that  a  project  so  crude  and  of 
such  imperfect  development  might  be  eventually 
abandoned. 

The  King  took  leave  of  the  Queen  on  the  23rd 
of  January  1642.  His  adieux  were  harsh  and 
threatening.  He  forbade  the  Queen  to  leave  St. 
Germain  during  his  absence,  even  to  visit  Paris ; 
and  again  renewed  his  interdict  againt  her  corre- 
spondence with  Madame  de  Chevreuse  or  with 
any  foreign  potentate.  Neither  was  Anne  to  visit 
the  Val  de  Grace  nor  the  Carmelite  convent ;  nor 
was  she  to  withdraw  the  young  princes  even  for  an 
hour  from  the  surveillance  of  Madame  de  Lansac. 
In  case  the  Queen  disobeyed  these  injunctions,  his 
Majesty  gave  orders  to  the  captain  of  his  guards, 
M.  de  Tresmes,  to  conduct  the  dauphin  and  his 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  495 

brother,  attended  by  Madame  de  Lansac,  to  Vin- 
cennes,  there  to  reside  until  his  own  return  from 
the  South.  "  Monseigneur,  the  little  dauphin," 
relates  Madame  de  Motteville,  "  had  not  com- 
pleted his  third  year  before  he  began  to  give  his 
father  umbrage.  The  Queen  did  me  the  honour  to 
relate  that  the  child,  seeing  his  father  one  evening 
wearing  his  nightcap  after  his  return  from  a 
hunt,  began  to  cry,  simply  because,  as  he  had 
never  before  seen  the  King  in  that  guise,  he  was 
frightened.  The  King,  nevertheless,  became  very 
angry,  and  scolded  her  Majesty,  saying  '  that  she 
brought  up  her  sons  to  hate  him,  and  therefore 
it  was  his  intention  soon  to  take  them  both 
entirely  from  her  care  and  society  ' — a  threat 
which,  had  Louis  lived,  he  doubtless  would  have 
put  into  execution." 

The  King,  accompanied  by  Cinq-Mars,  at  length 
set  out  for  Perpignan.  Louis  treated  Richelieu, 
who  also  attended  him,  with  imperious  disdain, 
and  appeared  more  and  more  infatuated  with  his 
handsome  favourite.  At  Briare  the  court  made 
sojourn  for  a  few  days,  and  here  Cinq- Mars  de- 
signed the  arrest  or  the  assassination  of  his 
Eminence.  There  was  a  majesty  and  a  constancy 
of  purpose  in  the  aspect  of  Richelieu  which  seemed 
to  defy  fate.  A  few  hours  before  the  proposed 
assassination  (which  was  to  be  effected  after  the 
model  of  that  of  the  Admiral  de  Coligny),the  nose  of 
M.  le  Grand  began  to  bleed.  The  persons  around 
interpreted  the  seizure  into  an  omen  of  approach- 
ing danger  ;  and  superstitious  dread,  therefore, 


496  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1689- 

induced  Cinq-Mars  to  recall  his  sanguinary  com- 
mands.20 At  Briare,  however,  Richelieu  fell  so 
dangerously  ill  that  his  life  was  despaired  of,  an  ab- 
scess having  formed  on  the  left  lung,  which  caused 
him  excruciating  torture.  Cinq-Mars,  therefore, 
believing  that  a  natural  death  would  soon  rid 
him  of  the  benefactor  whom  he  was  betraying 
with  such  scandalous  ingratitude,  induced  the 
King  to  hasten  forwards  to  Narbonne,  leaving  the 
Cardinal  at  Briare,  to  resume  his  journey  if  return- 
ing strength  permitted.  Richelieu  recovered  suffi- 
ciently in  the  course  of  a  few  days  to  follow  the 
court ;  but  not  wishing  in  his  sickness  and  pros- 
tration to  confront  his  foe,  he  turned  aside  and 
proceeded  to  Tarascon,  where  he  again  took  to  his 
bed.  Chavigny,  il  Pastor  Fido,  as  he  is  termed  in 
the  secret  ciphers  used  by  the  adherents  of  the 
minister,  alone  followed  his  benefactor,  confident 
still  in  the  bright  star  of  Richelieu.  Cinq-Mars, 
meanwhile,  felt  stricken  under  the  weight  of  his 
secret.  Monsieur  had  left  Chambord,  and  was  then 
enjoying  himself  in  a  boisterous  state  of  elation 
at  the  baths  at  Bourbon,  and  whether  the  impor- 
tant parchment,  on  the  safe  preservation  of  which 
the  lives  of  the  confederates  depended,  was  left 
behind  at  Chambord  or  was  carelessly  tossing 
amongst  the  baggage  of  the  Duke,  was  uncertain. 
From  Paris,  the  Princess  Marie  de  Gonzague 
sent  warnings  that  rumours  of  an  alarming  nature 
were  abroad,  that  the  Queen  was  sad,  and  re- 
ported to  be  in  constant  correspondence  with  the 
Cardinal,  whose  return  to  favour  was  predicted. 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  497 

To  allay  these  anxieties,  M.  le  Grand  despatched 
an  urgent  summons  to  the  Duke  de  Bouillon,  who 
was  at  Casale  to  return  to  France,  so  that  they 
might  be  delivered  from  disquietude  by  the 
prompt  overthrow  of  their  enemy. 

Meanwhile  the  Spanish  charge  d'affaires  in  Paris 
proceeded  to  St.  Germain,  and  after  much  solicita- 
tion, obtained  a  stolen  interview  with  Queen 
Anne.  From  the  lips  of  the  envoy,  the  Queen  first 
received  a  detail  of  the  treaty  recently  negotiated 
with  the  Spanish  cabinet,  and  at  once  disavowed 
all  knowledge  of  or  connivance  in  the  deed. 
Much  surprised,  the  envoy  left  a  copy  of  the 
treaty  with  her  Majesty.  A  few  days  subsequently, 
as  the  Cardinal  de  Richelieu  was  lying  on  his  bed 
in  his  lonely  chamber  at  Tarascon,  a  packet  was 
brought  to  him  Avhich  had  arrived  by  courier  from 
Paris.  The  feeble  fingers  of  Richelieu  nervously 
grasped  the  papers,  and  he  commenced  their 
perusal.  Soon  his  eyes  sparkled  with  triumph,  he 
raised  himself  from  his  pillow  and  the  hue  of  life 
again  mantled  his  pallid  face.  "  Surely,"  exclaimed 
he,  "  Providence  must  watch  with  special  love  over 
Richelieu,  and  the  welfare  of  this  great  realm  !  J! 
The  paper  in  his  hand  was  a  facsimile  of  the 
treaty  executed  between  Philip  IV.  of  Spain  and 
the  subjects  of  his  Christian  Majesty — Orleans, 
Cinq- Mars,  Bouillon,  and  Fontrailles.  It  never 
transpired  publicly  who  was  the  sender  of  the 
document,  and  whose,  therefore,  had  been  the 
hand  to  restore  Richelieu  to  life  and  hope.  A  paper 
moreover  accompanied  the  document,  containing 

2  i 


498  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1639- 

certain  hints  which  implicated  M.  de  Thou  and 
others.21  Amidst  the  variety  of  speculations  upon 
the  quarter  from  whence  the  Cardinal  derived 
this  most  opportune  succour,  two  suggestions  only 
obtained  credence  with  the  public. 

The  first  and  most  generally  believed  opinion 
was  that  Anne  of  Austria  had  forwarded  the  docu- 
ment to  the  Cardinal,  perfect  understanding  now 
subsisting  between  the  Queen  and  Richelieu. 
Anne,  it  was  alleged,  beheld  with  intense  dis- 
approbation a  foreign  raid  on  the  future  dominions 
of  her  son,  aided  by  a  conspiracy  of  the  nobles, 
and  therefore  it  was  her  Majesty's  intention  to 
lend  powerful  support  to  the  minister  with  whom 
she  was  agreed  in  all  matters  concerning  the  pre- 
sumed long  minority  of  the  future  King.  More- 
over, it  was  observed  that  the  Queen  often  gave 
cordial  and  confidential  greeting  to  M.  Mazarin, 
the  Papal  Nuncio,  who  was  in  the  Cardinal's 
confidence  and  had  been  especially  recommended 
to  her  royal  bienveillance  by  Richelieu.  The  second 
surmise  respecting  the  good  genius  who  had  sent 
the  minister  such  precious  intelligence  was  that 
Madame  de  Chevreuse  was  that  person.  Fontrailles 
retired  to  Brussels  where  Madame  de  Chevreuse 
was  sojourning ;  he  might  therefore  have  be- 
trayed the  secret  to  the  Duchess,  or  she  might 
have  been  apprised  thereof  by  the  Archduke, 
governor  of  the  Low  Countries.  These  last  sup- 
positions will  hardly  stand  the  test  of  examina- 
tion ;  it  was  not  likely  that  Fontrailles,  who  was 
one  of  the  conspirators,  should  furnish  the  Duchess 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  499 

with  arms  against  himself  ;  22  neither  does  it  seem 
probable  that  the  generous  and  impulsive  Marie 
de  Rohan  would  gratuitously  betray  her  friend 
de  Thou — with  whom  she  was  in  intimate  cor- 
respondence, and  to  whom  she  was,  moreover, 
heavily  in  debt — for  to  his  liberality  she  owed  the 
payment  of  her  English  creditors. 

As  soon  as  Richelieu  had  made  himself  master 
of  the  details  of  "  the  infamous  league  concocted 
by  M.  le  Grand,"  he  summoned  Chavigny  to 
his  bedside.  A  long  and  important  conference 
ensued,  at  the  termination  of  which  Chavigny 
departed  for  Narbonne,  the  bearer  of  the  treaty, 
and  of  a  letter  from  Richelieu  to  lay  before  the 
King.23  Louis  was  horrified  at  the  revelation  and 
could  scarcely  be  persuaded  to  believe  in  the  guilt 
of  Cinq-Mars.  The  subtle  tongue  of  Chavigny, 
however,  destroyed  every  doubt :  and  pointing 
to  the  fatal  treaty,  he  drew  so  overpowering  a 
picture  of  the  perils  of  the  realm ;  of  the  black 
ingratitude  of  M.  de  Cinq-Mars,  of  the  treachery 
of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  and  of  the  dark  league 
to  which  both  his  Majesty  and  his  faithful  minister 
had  nearly  fallen  victims,  that  the  unhappy  King 
shivered  at  the  retrospect.  Chavigny's  pertinent 
remarks  on  the  perfidy  of  his  idol  did  not,  how- 
ever, vanquish  the  intense  reluctance  of  the  King  to 
grant  a  warrant  for  the  arrest  of  all  the  delinquents 
— this  time  not  excepting  even  Monsieur.  The 
agitation  of  jtouis  was  pitiable  to  behold,  and  his 
lamentations  moving  in  their  accent  of  helpless 
misery.  Suddenly  he  threw  himself  on  his  knees 


500  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1639- 

before  a  crucifix  hanging  in  the  alcove  close  to  his 
bed,  and  prayed  long  and  fervently.  He  then 
caused  his  confessor,  the  Abbe  Sirmond,  to  be 
summoned.  Sirmond,  however,  declared  that  it 
was  the  duty  of  the  King  to  exact  exemplary 
punishment  for  crimes  of  so  heinous  a  nature. 
The  wrath  of  Louis  was  rising,  and  presently  he 
signed  an  order  for  the  arrest  of  M.  le  Grand  which 
he  gave  with  his  own  hand,  though  with  tears,  to 
Charost,  captain  of  the  guard  on  duty  at  Narbonne. 
The  decisive  order  given,  the  mind  of  Louis  again 
became  disturbed  bv  doubt.  So  sombre  and 

•/ 

wrathful  was  his  mood  that  de  Noyers  wrote  in 
dismay  to  Tarascon  to  request  that  M.  Mazarin 
might  be  sent  to  allay,  by  persuasive  logic,  the 
royal  disquietude.  "  I  fear  that  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  devise  some  plan  by  which  M.  Mazarin 
may  discourse  with  the  King,  who  has  now  strange 
reveries.  His  Majesty  said  to  me  yesterday  that 
he  had  suspicions  that  beloved  names  had  been 
substituted  for  those  of  the  true  criminals.  The 
King  was  very  ill  all  night,  at  two  o'clock  his 
Majesty  took  a  draught  and  afterwards  slept  for 
two  hours." 24  In  another  letter,  likewise  ad- 
dressed to  Chavigny  by  his  colleague  in  office,  who 
had  returned  to  consult  with  the  Cardinal,  the 
latter  writes,  "  It  is  my  opinion  that  the  sooner 
M.  Mazarin  arrives  the  better.  His  Majesty  re- 
quires consolation,  for  his  heart  is  very  big  with 
grief."  *5  Again,  in  a  despatch  to  Richelieu,  de 
Noyers  sends  the  intelligence — "  The  King  said  in 
my  ear  to-day,  that '  Seclan  was  worth  the  price  of 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  501 

a  pardon,  but  that  as  for  M.  le  Grand  he  never 
will  pardon  him  but  would  leave  him  to  the  judg- 
ment of  his  peers.'  :  Sentiments  of  compassion 
and  remorse  for  the  share  he  had  had  in  the 
conspiracy  of  Cinq-Mars,  and  the  humiliation  of 
reconciliation  with  Richelieu  likewise  harassed 
the  mind  of  Louis.  His  Majesty  wrote  two  letters 
to  Richelieu,  inviting  him  to  return,  and  filled 
with  professions  of  everlasting  gratitude  for  the 
"  watchful  vigilance  which  never  slumbered  and 
that  had  again  guarded  his  realm." 

Cinq-Mars,  meantime,  received  positive  intima- 
tion of  the  menaced  catastrophe  ;  the  reserve, 
besides,  of  the  King's  manner  on  dismissing  him 
for  the  last  time  from  the  presence  attracted  his 
attention.  Every  indication — the  presence  of 
Chavigny  especially,  and  the  sudden  resolve  of 
the  King  to  remain  at  Narbonne — might  have 
warned  him  of  lurking  peril.  An  assignation  with 
the  daughter  of  a  gunsmith  proved  his  ruin. 
While  at  this  woman's  house  on  the  night  of  the 
13th  of  June  1642,  a  friend  hurriedly  apprised 
him  of  the  order  issued,  and  that  Charost  was  then 
out  to  effect  his  arrest.  Through  by-streets  the 
unhappy  young  man  fled  back  to  his  chamber  in 
the  archiepiscopal  palace ;  the  royal  apartment, 
however,  was  strictly  guarded,  and  no  access  was 
possible  to  the  King.  Cinq-Mars  then  despairingly 
threw  himself  on  horseback  and  galloped  towards 
the  gates  of  the  town,  whilst  Charost  and  his 
archers  were  searching  the  house  he  had  just 
quitted.  The  gates  were  closed  and  guarded. 


502  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1639- 

Cinq-Mars  alighted  from  his  horse,  and  in  the 
darkness  of  the  night  again  made  his  way  back  to 
the  abode  of  his  mistress.  The  soldiers  had  just 
quitted  the  house.  Cinq-Mars  therefore  crept  into 
a  stable  and  hid  himself  under  some  trusses  of 
hay.  Unfortunately  the  master  of  the  house,  one 
M.  Burgos,  returned  home  and  discovered  the 
fugitive.  Burgos  consulted  a  friend,  who  advised 
him  not  to  incur  the  wrath  of  the  King  by  con- 
cealing a  culprit  whose  capture  was  certain  on  the 
morrow.  Burgos  therefore  informed  Charost  where 
his  intended  prisoner  lay  concealed,  and  a  party 
of  soldiers  soon  dragged  the  unfortunate  man 
from  his  hiding-place.26  Cinq-Mars  was  then 
placed  in  a  coach  and  immediately  conducted 
to  the  citadel  of  Montpellier.  M.  de  Thou  was 
arrested  the  same  night  and  despatched  under  a 
guard  to  Tarascon,  to  be  subjected  to  the  search- 
ing cross-examination  of  the  Cardinal.  An  officer, 
M.  Duplessis  Praslin,  was  sent  to  arrest  the 
Due  de  Bouillon  at  Casale  and  to  commit  him 
to  close  custody  in  that  citadel ;  all  of  which 
was  achieved  after  some  little  resistance  and 
an  attempt  at  concealment  on  the  part  of  the 
duke.27 

The  Duke  of  Orleans  on  the  first  rumour  of  the 
arrest  of  Cinq-Mars  fled  into  the  province  of 
Auvergne,  hiding  in  the  old  dilapidated  chateaux, 
or  roving  about  in  disguise  amid  the  mountainous 
districts.  The  Abbe  de  la  Riviere  was  sent  to 
Tarascon  to  assure  the  Cardinal  that  the  Duke 
had  been  more  sinned  against  than  transgressing. 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  503 

The  betrayal  of  the  league  with  Spain  was  not 
then  known  to  Monsieur,  who  had  not  even  con- 
fided the  matter  to  his  envoy,  La  Riviere.  The 
Abbe  was  therefore  so  taken  by  surprise  as  to 
utter  several  damaging  observations  relative  to 
his  master's  case  on  being  shown  the  treaty  by 
Richelieu.  The  latter  now  seemed  at  the  summit 
of  triumph  ;  his  enemies  had  fallen  with  signal 
defeat,  and  the  realm  exposed  to  the  treacherous 
machinations  of  rebels  and  of  their  foreign  ally 
had  need  of  his  support.  The  King  was  again  at 
his  feet,  humbled,  feeble,  desolate,  and  sick  with 
bodily  infirmities  aggravated  by  agitation  and 
distress.  But  the  health  of  Richelieu  also  was 
evidently  sinking,  and  his  sufferings  were  palpable 
enough  to  enable  him  to  exact  as  a  crowning  con- 
cession that  his  royal  master  should  pay  him  the 
indispensable  visit  of  reconciliation.  The  inter- 
view took  place  at  the  little  hamlet  of  Montfrin, 
distant  about  three  miles  and  a  half  from  Taras- 
con.  Both  the  King  and  his  minister  were  too  ill 
to  sit  up.  Louis  travelled  in  a  litter,  and  was 
lifted  therefrom  on  to  a  couch,  upon  which  he  was 
carried  into  the  Cardinal's  bed-chamber.28  The 
interview  passed  in  dejection  and  submission  on 
the  part  of  the  King,  and  in  tears  and  eloquent 
appeals  by  Richelieu.  Again  the  destiny  of  the 
kingdom  was  confided  to  Richelieu's  wisdom, 
and  absolute  power  given  him  over  the  fate  of 
all  the  prisoners  under  arrest.  At  this  interview 
doubtless  the  secret  of  how  he  came  by  the  treaty 
was  revealed  by  Richelieu  to  his  royal  master 


504  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1639- 

Fabert,  a  lieutenant  of  the  royal  guard,  who 
arrested  Cinq-Mars,  stated  that  the  persons  in 
possession  of  this  secret  were  MM.  de  Chavigny 
and  de  Noyers,  secretaries  of  state,  the  King,  the 
Duke  of  Orleans,  the  Queen,  Mazarin,  and  him- 
self, but  that  they  all  took  heed  not  to  divulge  so 
important  a  fact.  "  One  day  some  importunate 
person  asked  M.  le  Prince  de  Conde  how  the  treaty 
with  Spain  had  been  discovered,"  relates  Talle- 
mant.  "  M.  le  Prince  replied  in  a  whisper. 
M.  Voiture,  who  wras  present,  said  afterwards  to 
M.  de  Chavigny,  'You  make  so  much  fuss  about 
your  grand  secret,  nevertheless  M.  le  Prince 
knows  it.'  Chavigny  replied,  '  M.  le  Prince  de 
Conde  does  not  know  our  secret,  nevertheless  if 
he  did  he  would  not  dare  to  reveal  it !  '  Voiture 
therefore  understood  that  the  information  came 
from  the  Queen,  besides  it  was  remarked  that 
no  more  was  said  about  taking  her  children  from 
her  as  the  King  had  threatened.  It  may  be  urged 
however  that  if  such  conjecture  was  true,  Madame 
de  Lansac  would  not  have  dared  to  draw  back  the 
curtain  of  the  Queen's  bed  and  tell  her  abruptly 
that  M.  le  Grand  was  arrested.  This  in  my 
opinion,"  continues  Tallemant,  "  is  no  contra- 
diction of  the  supposition.  Madame  de  Lansac, 
for  obvious  reasons,  was  permitted — nay  perhaps 
ordered — to  make  such  sudden  revelation  to  avert 
suspicion."  Tallemant,  moreover,  might  have 
added  that  Anne's  betrayal  of  the  conspiracy 
having  been  made  with  the  greatest  secrecy, 
Madame  de  Lansac  was  not  likely  to  suppose  that 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  505 

her  royal  mistress  suspected  even  the  probability 
of  so  sudden  an  arrest. 

In  the  archives  of  the  French  Foreign  Office, 
however,  M.  Cousin  discovered  invaluable  docu- 
ments, which  disclose  the  sentiments  of  the  Queen 
on  the  arrest  of  Cinq-Mars.  On  being  apprised  of 
the  event  Anne  wrote,  through  Le  Gras  her  con- 
fidential secretary,  to  Richelieu,  a  letter  full  of 
congratulation  and  indignation  at  the  criminals  : 
"  The  extreme  ingratitude  of  Cinq-Mars  inspires 
her  Majesty  with  a  horror  which  she  is  attempting 
to  express  in  a  letter  to  the  King,  which  she  prays 
M.  le  Cardinal  to  present."  29  "  The  Queen,"  writes 
M.  de  Brassac,  "  is  so  rejoiced  at  the  propitious 
termination  of  the  conspiracy  that  the  indisposi- 
tion from  which  she  was  suffering  vanished  under 
the  influence  of  her  joy."30  When  Chavigny 
returned  to  Paris  at  the  end  of  July,  to  institute 
commissions  to  try  the  prisoners,  he  paid  his 
respects  to  the  Queen  at  St.  Germain,  and  writes 
to  report  his  interview  to  the  minister  :  "I  found 
the  Queen  so  grateful  and  mindful  of  the  great 
obligations  which  she  owes  to  your  Eminence,  that 
I  firmly  believe  it  would  be  a  task  of  great  diffi- 
culty to  induce  her  to  act  in  anything  without 
your  counsel  and  permission ;  she  has  resolved 
to  follow  your  wishes  in  all  matters,  and  has 
commanded  me  to  give  you  this  assurance  on  her 
behalf.  ..."  Again  Chavigny  writes,  August  12th, 
"  I  am  more  than  ever  persuaded  that  the  tender 
regard  which  the  Queen  testifies  towards  you, 
Monseigneur,  is  sincere ;  and  that  there  is  now 


506  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF        [1689- 

nothing  easier  than  to  keep  her  in  this  mind,  as 
she  aspires  to  no  other  favour  in  the  world  than  to 
be  with  her  children,  without  pretending  to  direct 
their  education,  which  she  passionately  hopes  that 
your  Eminence  will  superintend.  The  Queen  com- 
manded me  to  say  to  your  Eminence  that  she  is 
inspired  with  the  greatest  impatience  to  greet  you 
again."  31  Fontrailles,  in  a  deposition 82  made  when 
all  peril  was  over,  states  "  that  M.  de  Thou,  in  the 
last  visit  which  he  paid  him,  informed  him  that, 
to  his  surprise,  the  Queen  knew  of  his  (Fontrailles) 
mission  to  Spain,  and  its  object ;  and  that  it  was 
his  opinion  her  Majesty  learned  the  event  from 
Monsieur,  and  was  in  her  heart  glad  at  a  con- 
spiracy which  would  act  as  an  earthquake  in  the 
court,  and  from  the  results  of  which  she  might 
herself  derive  good  rather  than  harm."  Another 
piece  of  circumstantial  evidence  which  seems  to 
affix  the  betrayal  of  the  conspiracy  upon  Anne 
was  her  sudden  fear  lest  Madame  de  Chevreuse 
should  be  permitted  to  return  to  France.  The 
Duchess  was  in  a  position  to  hear  much  at  the 
Spanish  court  of  Brussels ;  besides  her  warm 
friendship  for  M.  de  Thou  might  induce  her  to 
make  inconvenient  endeavour  to  clear  up  the 
mystery.  The  Queen,  openly  faithless  at  last  to 
her  oldest  and  most  devoted  friend,  sent  for 
Chavigny  one  morning  and  asked  him  whether  it 
was  true  that  the  Cardinal  was  about  to  yield  to 
the  importunity  of  the  Duchess  de  Chevreuse  and 
permit  her  to  return  to  France.  "  Without  wait- 
ing for  my  reply,"  writes  Chavigny  to  Richelieu, 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  507 

;t  her  Majesty  proceeded  to  inform  me  that  she 
should  deeply  regret  the  return  of  the  said  lady  ; 
for  that  she  now  valued  her  at  her  proper  worth. 
The  Queen  then  directed  me  to  request  your 
Eminence,  in  her  name,  not  to  permit  the  Duchess 
de  Chevreuse  to  return  to  France,  but  that  if 
your  Eminence  had  any  inclination  to  confer  a 
favour  on  the  said  lady  Duchess  it  might  not  be 
that  of  her  recall.  I  then  assured  her  Majesty  you 
would  give  her  satisfaction  on  this  point.  I  never 
saw  indications  of  more  sincere  satisfaction  than 
that  shown  by  the  Queen  when  I  delivered 
your  message.  She  moreover  protested  that  she 
would  nevermore  permit  Madame  de  Chevreuse 
to  approach  her  person,  but  has  taken  the  firm 
resolve,  which  she  intends  to  maintain  as  if  her 
salvation  depended  thereon,  never  to  surfer  any 
person  to  speak  to  her  or  to  give  her  counsel 
which  tended  to  the  violation  of  the  smallest  of 
her  duties  and  of  her  promises." 33  In  the 
generous  enthusiasm  of  her  disposition  Madame 
de  Chevreuse  relied  on  Anne's  friendship,  though 
sorely  puzzled  by  the  reports  wafted  to  the  court 
of  Brussels  of  the  Queen's  strange  indifference  to 
those  whom  she  used  to  term  her  friends.  She 
heard  with  surprise  of  the  Queen  as  being  present 
at  the  sumptuous  fetes  of  the  Palais  Cardinal, 
even  when  the  King  was  too  indisposed  to  be  the 
guest  of  Richelieu  ;  that  her  Majesty's  fair  face 
now  beamed  with  smiles  and  condescension  when 
speaking  with  the  minister,  who  on  the  occasion 
of  her  visits,  gave  pompous  entertainments  and 


508  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1689- 

stood  during  the  evening  behind  Anne's  chair 
arrayed  in  splendid  robes  of  scarlet  velvet  glitter- 
ing with  gems.GJ  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  neverthe- 
less, still  believed  in  the  Queen  ;  attributing  all 
that  appeared  strange  in  her  Majesty's  deport- 
ment to  the  inevitable  exigencies  of  her  position. 
If  any  event  could  have  tempered  the  exulta- 
tion which  possessed  the  heart  and  mind  of  Riche- 
lieu, it  must  have  been  the  tidings  which  reached 
him  while  at  Tarascon  of  the  death  of  Marie  de' 
Medici,  his  earliest  friend  and  benefactress.  The 
Queen  expired  at  Cologne  on  the  night  of  the  3rd 
of  July  1642.  Her  disorder  was  dropsy  and  ulcera- 
tion  of  the  legs,  consequent  it  is  supposed  on 
ignorant  medical  treatment.  Such  had  been  the 
forlorn  desolation  of  this  great  Princess,  mother  of 
a  King  of  France  and  of  the  Queens  of  England 
and  Spain,  of  a  Duchess  Regent  of  Savoy  and  of 
Monsieur,  that  during  the  early  winter  months  of 
1642  bread  and  fuel  had  absolutely  failed  her  ! 
"  Marie  wearied  all  the  world  and  was  herself 
in  turn  wearied  to  such  degree  that  she  sought 
throughout  the  universe  for  a  resting-place,  and 
found  none.  England  through  the  intrigues  of 
Richelieu  rejected  her,  Spain  through  dread  of 
what  she  might  betray  closed  the  portals  of  the 
Low  Countries,  Holland  daunted  by  the  frown 
of  Richelieu  declined  to  receive  her.  At  length  she 
repaired  to  Cologne,  where  she  resided  during 
nine  months  reduced  to  indigence,  and  compelled 
to  use  the  wooden  furniture  and  cupboards  of  her 
apartment  for  fuel,  during  the  cold  of  that  most 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  509 

rigorous  season  of  1642."  35  France,  it  was  true, 
could  not  hold  Richelieu  and  the  Queen-mother, 
and  one  was  obliged  to  succumb  before  the  genius 
and  fortune  of  the  other.  Marie,  ill-advised  to  her 
last  hour,  stifled  the  generous  remorse  which  on 
several  occasions  arose  in  the  bosom  of  her  great 
adversary,  by  the  vindictiveness  of  her  impotent 
threats,  and  by  the  vow  she  had  registered,  if 
ever  she  returned  to  France,  to  compass  the 
judicial  death  or  the  assassination  of  Richelieu. 
It  was  unjustifiable,  nevertheless,  to  sequestrate 
her  revenues,  to  dishonour  the  pecuniary  drafts 
which  her  necessity  compelled  her  to  give  on  the 
exchequer  of  her  son  the  King,  and  to  poison 
the  ear  and  alienate  from  the  friendless  Princess 
the  regard  of  the  potentates,  her  nearest  kinsmen, 
by  mendacious  slanders,  listened  to  only  because 
they  were  propounded  by  the  envoys  of  mighty 
France.  On  her  dying  bed  Marie  forgave  all  her 
enemies  and  Richelieu  by  name.  The  Papal 
Nuncio,  who  assisted  her  in  that  solemn  hour, 
asked  her  whether  as  a  supreme  act  of  faith  and 
humility  she  would  send  a  bracelet  she  then  wore 
on  her  arm  to  the  Cardinal  ?  The  dying  Queen 
turned  impatiently  away.  "Ah,  Jest  trop!"  ex- 
claimed she  with  energy,  and  spoke  no  more  for 
several  hours.  The  last  will  and  testament  of 
Marie  de'  Medici  was  witnessed  by  the  Nuncio,  by 
the  Archbishop  of  Cologne  and  by  other  Church- 
men of  note.  Marie's  bequests  were  numerous,  as 
she  left  legacies  to  all  her  servants  and  officers. 
To  Anne  of  Austria  she  bequeathed  the  diamond 


510  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1639- 

ring  of  her  own  betrothal  to  Henri  Quatre.  To  her 
daughter  Henrietta,  Queen  of  England,  her  frag- 
ment of  the  true  Cross  encircled  by  pearls  and 
diamonds.36  The  remains  of  the  Queen  were 
interred  in  the  cathedral  of  Cologne  ;  subsequently 
the  coffin  was  exhumed  during  the  regency  of 
Anne  of  Austria  and  transported  to  France,  where 
it  was  placed  in  the  royal  mausoleum  at  St.  Denis. 
The  death  of  Marie  de'  Medici  inspired  no  mer- 
ciful promptings  in  the  heart  of  Richelieu.  Though 
crippled  with  bodily  infirmities  he  panted  for 
vengeance  on  those  who  had  so  nearly  compassed 
his  overthrow.  The  King,  incensed  by  his  vivid 
representations,  seemed  to  find  solace  only  in 
vituperations  on  the  career  of  his  late  unhappy 
favourite.  Louis  now  declared  that  he  had  never 
truly  liked  Cinq-Mars,  whose  idleness  le  faisoit 
vomir ;  his  Majesty  further  exclaimed  with 
childish  inanity,  "  That  great,  fat,  idle,  wicked 
boy  Cinq-Mars  never  said  a  pater,  nor  could  he 
ever  induce  him  to  try."  When  the  King  was  at 
Lyons  on  his  road  back  to  Paris,  Cinq-Mars  sent 
an  impassioned  appeal  for  pardon  and  for  an  in- 
terview. Louis,  when  he  received  the  message, 
was  pleasantly  engaged  in  his  apartment  over  a 
stove,  boiling  a  composition  of  sugar  and  treacle, 
which  schoolboys  in  the  nineteenth  century  call 
lollipop.  "  No,"  said  his  Majesty  in  reply  to  the 
appeal,  taking  the  pan  off  the  fire  and  shaking  its 
contents,  "  No  !  the  soul  of  Cinq-Mars  is  as  black 
as  the  bottom  of  this  pan  !  I  will  give  him  no 
audience !  " a7  M.  de  Thou,  meantime,  was  put 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  511 

on  board  a  barge  under  a  guard  of  soldiers,  and 
followed  in  the  train  of  the  Cardinal  up  the  Rhone 
to  Lyons.  His  fate  does  not  appear  to  have 
evoked  from  his  contemporaries  that  tribute  of 
sympathy  which  posterity  has  assigned  him. 
Possessing  a  name  illustrious  in  legal  and  literary 
annals,  de  Thou  displayed  a  sensitive  eagerness  to 
be  recognised  as  an  equal  by  the  feudal  princes  of 
the  land.  His  mind  was  inconstant,  restless  and 
craving  for  novelty.  His  character  was  so  un- 
decided that  it  is  recorded,  when  he  left  home  he 
sometimes  lingered  for  an  hour  on  his  doorstep 
before  he  could  make  up  his  mind  in  what  direc- 
tion to  walk.  He  entered  into  the  designs  of  M. 
le  Grand  from  delight  at  the  notoriety  they  were 
likely  to  confer.  He  had  attached  himself  to  the 
car  of  Madame  de  Guemene,  and  bore  patiently 
the  caprices  of  so  great  a  lady,  solely  that  his  name 
might  be  linked  with  hers  en  rapport,  as  one  of 
her  accepted  admirers.  Cinq-Mars  had  nicknamed 
de  Thou  "  Son  Inquietude,"  'as  he  was  always  in 
a  chronic  state  of  excitement  and  never  happy 
except  in  a  state  of  ferment. 

The  commission  for  the  trial  of  MM.  Cinq-Mars 
and  de  Thou  was  issued  on  the  6th  of  August, 
1642.  The  royal  commissioners  were  the  Chan- 
cellor Seguier  and  six  other  judges.  Louis  pub- 
lished a  manifesto,  addressed  to  the  Parliament  of 
Paris,  in  which  he  brands  his  late  unfortunate 
favourite  with  angry  epithets.  The  King  states 
that  the  cunning  policy  of  the  Sieur  de  Cinq-Mars 
was  to  proclaim  evil  tidings  and  to  hide  happy 


512  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1639- 

events,  to  depreciate  the  policy  of  Richelieu  and 
to  laud  that  of  Olivarez,  to  mock  at  religion  with 
a  facility  which  testified  that  the  love  of  God  was 
far  from  his  heart.  "  His  imprudence,  impudence, 
flippancy,  and  the  intelligences  which  he  held  in 
our  army,"  continues  his  Majesty,  "  confirmed  our 
growing  suspicions.  We  afterwards  discovered 
that  his  evil-balanced  mind  had  betrayed  him  into 
forming  a  league  against  our  realm  ;  that  the  Due 
de  Bouillon  was  to  open  at  Sedan  the  portals  of 
our  kingdom  to  foreign  armies,  at  the  head  of 
which  our  very  dear  brother  the  Due  d'Orleans 
was  to  march,  and  that  this  miserable  man  was 
to  join  them,  in  case  he  could  not  serve  his  faction 
better  by  remaining  near  our  person  and  ruining 
the  influence  of  our  cousin  the  Cardinal  de  Riche- 
lieu." Louis  thus  continues,  and  states  the  items 
and  condition  of  the  treaty.88  The  Chancellor, 
after  subjecting  the  accused  persons  to  one  in- 
terrogatory, repaired  to  the  town  of  Villefranche 
in  the  Beaujolais  jto  question  Monsieur,  who  had 
been  reduced  to  a  pitiable  condition  of  terror  on 
being  apprised  that  his  doings  with  Spain  were 
known  to  his  brother.  He  therefore  avowed  all  he 
knew  with  the  most  naive  candour,  and  declared 
himself  ready  to  assist  M.  le  Cardinal  in  forward- 
ing the  ends  of  justice  on  the  persons  arrested. 
This  contemptible  prince  confirmed  by  his  con- 
fession that  which  was  already  known.89  He  vin- 
dicated de  Thou  from  being  an  accomplice  in  the 
Spanish  treaty,  but  acknowledged  that  he  was 
aware  that  such  a  document  had  been  obtained. 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  513 

Finally  Monsieur  delivered  up  to  the  Chancellor 
the  original  treaty  which  had  been  brought  to 
Chambord  by  M.  de  Fontrailles. 

The   prisoners   Cinq-Mars  and  de   Thou  were 
both   confined  in  the  fort   of  Pierre   Encise   of 
Lyons,  to  which  place  the  former  had  been  trans- 
ferred.    Richelieu   during   the  trial  remained  in 
the    neighbourhood    of    Lyons    with    his    niece, 
Madame    d'Aiguillon,    and    other    friends.     The 
fatal  treaty  was    evidence    sufficient  to  procure 
the  condemnation  of    Cinq-Mars,    who  behaved 
throughout  the  trial  with  a  courage  and  lofty  re- 
signation which  affected  even  his  judges.     He  was 
condemned  to  the  question,   ordinaire  et  extra- 
ordinaire, but  by  command  of  the  King  was  only 
led  into  the  torture  chamber  and  there  required 
again  to  make  solemn  affirmation  that  he  had 
nothing  more  to  confess.     De  Thou  was  likewise 
condemned  to  suffer  the  extreme  penalty  of  the 
law  because  il  avail  brouille,   and    had  not  de- 
nounced the  traitorous  conspiracy  to  which  he  had 
been  all  along  privy.     Sentence  of  decapitation 
was  pronounced  on  both  the  prisoners,  September 
12th,  1642,  which  was  executed  the  same  day. 
Cinq-Mars   died  like  a  hero  and  a  Christian,  he 
forgave  his  enemies   and  with  steady  resolution 
laid  his  head  on  the  block,  which  was  severed  from 
his  body  at  the  first  blow.     The  spectators  melted 
into  tears  as  they  witnessed  the  cruel  fate  of  a 
cavalier    so    accomplished    and    beautiful,    and 
whose  errors  had  been  fostered  and  encouraged  by 
the  selfish  indulgences  of  the  King.     De  Thou  met 

2  K 


514  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1639- 

his  fate  calmly  but  with  less  outward  courage. 
His  face  was  pallid  as  he  ascended  the  scaffold 
streaming  with  the  blood  of  his  unfortunate 
friend,  and  it  was  observed  that  his  arms 
trembled.  Less  fortunate  than  Cinq-Mars,  the 
headsman,  unnerved  by  the  tragedy  already 
enacted,  failed  at  the  first  stroke  to  sever  the 
head.  The  blow  descended  on  the  skull  but  for- 
tunately rendered  the  unhappy  sufferer  senseless, 
while  the  horror  of  the  spectators  was  such,  as  the 
executioner  finished  his  dreadful  task,  that  women 
fainted  and  the  mob  with  groans  and  cries  of 
indignation  pressed  towards  the  scaffold,  and 
were  restrained  only  from  tearing  it  down  by  the 
advance  of  troops  from  the  garrison.40  It  was 
supposed  that  the  torture  had  been  spared  Cinq- 
Mars  by  the  craven  fears  of  Louis  XIII.  lest  the 
former  might  betray  the  plans  which  they  had 
formerly  discussed  to  the  detriment  of  the  Car- 
dinal. Probably  had  Cinq-Mars  known  less  of 
the  King's  secret  sentiments,  his  life  might  have 
been  spared  to  the  agonised  supplications  of  his 
mother.  "  Madame,"  wrote  the  Cardinal  from 
Lyons  to  the  unhappy  mother,41  "  if  your  son  had 
been  only  guilty  of  the  many  plots  now  come  to 
light  for  my  destruction  I  would  forget  my  own 
injuries  to  grant  your  desires,  but  your  son 
having  been  convicted  of  most  perfidious  infidelity 
towards  the  King,  and  having  placed  himself  at 
the  head  of  a  league  to  disturb  the  prosperity  of 
his  master's  reign  and  to  betray  him  for  strangers 
and  foreigners,  enemies  of  this  realm,  I  must 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  515 

decline  to  interest  myself  in  his  affairs  altogether. 
I  pray,  Madame,  that  God  may  console  you." 
The  Duke  of  Bouillon,  meantime,  had  remained  a 
prisoner  in  the  fort  of  Casale,  from  whence,  after 
the  death  of  Cinq-Mars,  he  was  removed  to  Lyons. 
His  ultimate  fate  excited  many  discussions  in 
council.  The  Duke,  admonished  by  the  fate 
of  M.  de  Montmorency,  and  therefore  relying 
little  on  the  consideration  due  to  his  august  rank, 
wrote  to  the  Cardinal  offering  to  submit  to  any 
terms  he  might  think  fit  to  impose  short  of  exile 
and  confiscation  of  his  wealth  and  dignities. 
Madame  de  Bouillon,42  who  was  a  woman  of 
courage  and  spirit,  rendered  the  Duke's  letter  the 
more  emphatic  by  writing  to  the  Cardinal  implor- 
ing his  powerful  intercession  with  the  King,  but 
stating  in  positive  language  that  if  the  persuasion 
of  his  Eminence  failed  she  intended  to  deliver 
up  the  fortress  and  principality  of  Sedan  to  the 
Spaniards.  The  Prince  of  Orange,  uncle  of  the 
Due  de  Bouillon,  also  sent  the  Count  d'Estrades 
to  Paris  to  offer  intercession.  The  Prince,  during 
Richelieu's  temporary  eclipse,  had  stood  his  firm 
friend  in  genuine  admiration  of  his  administra- 
tive talents.  The  Prince  had  directed  the  Dutch 
ambassador  to  wait  upon  King  Louis  before  his 
departure  for  Perpignan,  to  express  the  regret  of 
the  States  that  the  Cardinal  de  Richelieu  seemed 
to  have  fallen  from  the  royal  favour,  which 
declension  occasioned  great  uneasiness  to  the 
German  allies  of  the  crown,  who,  by  their  con- 
fidence in  the  ability  of  the  great  Cardinal,  were 


516  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1639- 

restrained  only  from  concluding  a  peace  with 
Spain.  This  good  office  Richelieu  resolved  to 
requite  by  sparing  the  life  of  the  Due  de  Bouillon. 
A  private  arrangement  was  therefore  concluded. 
Bouillon  confessed  his  guilty  connivance  in  the 
machinations  of  Cinq-Mars,  and  gratefully  ac- 
cepted the  terms  of  pardon  imposed — which  were, 
"  the  cession  of  the  fortress  and  principality  of 
Sedan  to  the  crow^n,  with  all  the  neighbouring 
lands  appertaining  to  Bouillon,  and  the  artillery 
and  munitions  in  store,  in  return  for  life  and 
liberty,  which  the  Duke  humbly  craves  may  be 
accorded  to  him  within  the  next  fourteen  days."  43 
The  possession  of  Sedan  was  more  important  to 
the  King  of  France  than  the  enforcement  of  the 
law  against  Bouillon,  for  the  death  on  the  scaffold 
of  the  Duke  could  not  have  been  followed  by  the 
legal  confiscation  of  his  principality  which  he 
held  independently  of  the  crown.  The  Duchess, 
therefore,  might  have  called  Spanish  troops  to  her 
aid,  or  what  was  most  probable  after  the  death 
of  the  Duke  she  would  have  delivered  up  Sedan 
to  the  Prince  of  Orange  and  a  Dutch  garrison 
to  hold  in  trust  for  the  young  Duke  her  stepson. 
A  pardon  under  the  great  seal  was  issued  on  the 
15th  of  September  by  the  King,  "  in  consideration 
of  the  earnest  intercessions  of  our  cousins,  the 
Prince  of  Orange  and  the  Landgravine  of  Hesse." 
The  following  day  Bouillon  was  set  at  liberty  and 
retired  to  his  chateau  de  Turenne.44  Mazarin 
negotiated  the  treaty  and  was  sent  by  Louis  to 
take  possession  of  S6dan  on  behalf  of  the  crown, 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  517 

He  narrowly  escaped  capture  by  the  Count  de 
Bucquoy,  an  officer  in  the  pay  of  Spain,  who  set 
an  ambuscade  of  800  cavaliers  near  to  Donchery 
to  attack  the  Cardinal  and  his  escort,  which 
consisted  of  twenty-two  companies  of  Swiss  and 
royal  guards.  Mazarin,  however,  happily  avoided 
the  peril  by  travelling  by  night.  He  entered 
Sedan  where  he  was  received  by  the  Duchess  de 
Bouillon,  who  delivered  up  the  fortress  and  its 
stores  in  accordance  with  the  treaty  signed  by  her 
husband — and  thus  the  great  chieftains  of  La 
Marck  ceased  to  be  sovereign  princes. 

"  Sire  !  your  enemies  are  dead  and  Perpignan 
is  yours !  "  wrote  Richelieu  from  Lyons  to  the  King 
on  the  14th  of  September.  The  great  southern 
fortress,  reported  to  be  impregnable,  had  fallen 
most  opportunely,  so  as  to  enable  the  Cardinal  to 
proclaim  its  surrender  in  the  same  despatch  which 
informed  the  King  of  the  execution  of  Cinq-Mars 
and  of  M.  de  Thou.  The  glory  of  the  capture 
of  Perpignan  remained  with  the  Marshal  de  la 
Meilleraye  who  commanded  the  last  storming  of 
the  iron  walls  of  the  citadel,  which,  perched  on 
the  summit  of  an  almost  perpendicular  rock, 
could  not  be  mined.  There  was  one  weak  point 
only  by  which  the  garrison  might  be  driven  forth 
—the  want  of  water  :  the  assault  given  by  the 
Marshal  destroyed  the  only  well  of  the  fortress, 
and  ten  days  afterwards  the  garrison  capitulated. 

Richelieu  now  prepared  for  his  triumphant 
advance  to  the  capital.  The  temper  of  the  King 
was  not  satisfactory ;  he  simply  expressed  his 


518  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1639- 

obligations  to  his  minister,  and  there  was  a  gloom 
and  reserve  in  his  communication  which  disturbed 
Richelieu.  The  Queen  hastened  however  to 
write  to  the  Cardinal ;  and  she  sent  him  a  portrait 
of  M.  le  Dauphin,  which  attention,  as  he  observed 
to  the  Duchess  d'Aiguillon,  greatly  comforted 
him  :  "I  cannot  sufficiently  thank  your  Majesty 
for  this  favour.  I  revere  the  portrait  of  M.  le 
Dauphin,  as  I  shall  all  my  life  revere  his  person. 
May  God  grant  that  my  successors  in  office  may 
render  him  the  faithful  services  that  I  have  always 
offered  to  the  King  and  to  your  Majesty."  4S 

From  Lyons  the  Cardinal  travelled  to  the 
capital  with  the  pompous  progress  of  a  sovereign 
prince.  His  infirmities  were  now  so  great  that  he 
could  not  bear  the  motion  of  any  kind  of  carriage 
drawn  by  horses.  The  greater  part  of  the 
journey  therefore  was  performed  by  water.  The 
Cardinal  had  thus  a  comfortable  journey  from 
Tarascon  to  Lyons,  but  from  Lyons  to  Roanne, 
the  place  where  he  was  to  embark  on  the  Loire, 
many  miles  of  country  intervened.  A  large 
chamber  of  wood  was  therefore  built,  having 
windows  and  doors,  draped  on  the  outside  with 
red  damask  and  ornamented  with  gold  mouldings. 
In  wet  weather  a  cover  of  oil  cloth  was  prepared 
to  case  the  damask  and  to  render  the  chamber 
waterproof.  Inside  was  a  bed,  a  couch,  a  table, 
a  mirror  and  a  chair  for  the  secretary  of  the 
minister  or  for  the  occupation  of  Madame 
d'Aiguillon.  Twelve  gentlemen  of  the  guard  bore 
along  this  sumptuous  litter  by  gilded  staves  resting 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  519 

on  their  shoulders.  In  this  state  the  Cardinal 
was  borne  from  Lyons  to  embark  on  the  river 
Loire  by  his  devoted  gentlemen  in  turn  who  all 
persisted  in  marching  bareheaded.  His  barge  was 
superbly  adorned  and  his  couch  was  placed  on 
deck  under  a  velvet  canopy.  The  barge  was 
followed  by  that  of  Madame  d'Aiguillon,  then 
came  the  superb  litter  in  a  boat  surmounted  by 
the  royal  standard  and  by  the  banner  of  Riche- 
lieu. The  flotilla  was  attended  by  a  number  of 
smaller  barges  and  boats  which  gliding  up  the 
river  presented  a  picturesque  spectacle.  On 
either  side  of  the  river  a  squadron  of  cavalry 
followed  the  state  barge  to  watch  over  the  safety 
of  the  great  minister.  Every  night  Richelieu 
landed  and  was  borne,  reclining  in  his  litter,  to 
the  lodgings  prepared  in  each  of  the  large  towns  on 
his  route.  No  obstacles  were  suffered  to  impede 
his  progress,  walls  were  thrown  down  to  facilitate 
the  passage  of  his  litter,  the  windows  of  houses 
were  taken  out  to  give  it  admittance  into  the 
chamber  prepared  ;  if  the  lodging  happened  to  be 
on  the  second  story  of  a  house,  a  gradual  ascent 
from  the  street  or  the  courtyard  to  an  aperture 
on  a  level  with  the  chamber  was  constructed  of 
planks  railed  in  on  each  side  up  which  he  was 
borne  by  his  faithful  body-guard.46  When  his 
Eminence  arrived  at  a  town  a  deputation  of 
municipal  authorities  received  and  attended  him 
to  his  abode,  the  bells  of  the  town  rang  merrily 
and  the  flag  of  Richelieu  was  seen  floating  side 
by  side  with  the  banner  of  the  fleurs-de-lis.  The 


520  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1689- 

pompous  landing  at  Nevers  was  witnessed  and 
described  by  the  Abbe  de  Marolles,47  the  faithful 
friend  and  almoner  of  the  Princess  Marie  de 
Gonzague-Nevers,  who  heart-broken  at  the 
execution  of  Cinq-Mars,  had  retired  to  the  palace 
of  her  ancestors  to  deplore  her  fault  in  having 
stimulated  the  ill-regulated  ambition  of  that  un- 
fortunate man. 

The  Cardinal  rested  for  an  interval  at  Fontaine- 
bleau,  and  arrived  at  Ruel  about  the  middle  of 
October  1642.48  The  acute  pains  which  con- 
stantly racked  his  limbs  rendered  him  irritable 
and  more  than  ever  inclined  to  domineer  over 
a  master  only  too  ready  to  concede.  Indeed 
Richelieu's  pretensions  and  demands  showed 
that  for  the  future  he  intended  to  share  the  royal 
splendour  as  well  as  the  power  of  the  throne. 
Louis  paid  his  minister  a  visit  on  his  arrival  at 
Ruel ;  the  Cardinal  did  not  rise  as  his  Majesty 
entered  the  chamber.  His  bodily  infirmities  were 
probably  the  occasion  of  this  disregard  of  proper 
etiquette,  and  as  such  Louis  would  have  excused 
the  omission.  The  Cardinal  however  coldly  re- 
marked, "  that  princes  of  the  Church  were  not 
bound  to  show  deference  to  any  secular  power, 
and  that  for  the  future  he  should  avail  himself 
of  his  privilege."  Queen  Anne  and  her  Dauphin 
visited  Ruel  on  the  same  day.  Richelieu  kissed 
her  Majesty's  hand  and  asked  permission  to 
embrace  Monseigneur,  but  did  not  rise  from  his 
couch.49  Against  M.  d'Orleans  the  anger  of 
Richelieu  burned  fiercely,  and  he  made  no 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  521 

attempt  to  conceal  his  sentiments  of  profound 
contempt  and  indignation.  In  this  feeling  Louis 
entirely  sympathised  with  his  minister,  and  be- 
tween the  two  an  edict  was  concerted  to  deprive 
Monsieur  and  his  posterity  of  their  rights  to  the 
succession  in  the  event  of  the  extinction  of  the 
issue  male  of  Louis  XIII. :  a  forfeiture  justly 
incurred  by  his  repeated  and  malignant  treason. 
This  edict  was  likewise  to  debar  the  Duke  for  ever 
from  holding  executive  or  military  functions  in 
the  realm  ;  it  again  denied  the  validity  of  his 
marriage  with  Marguerite  de  Lorraine,  and  in- 
terdicted his  residence  in  Paris  or  wherever  the 
court  might  be  sojourning.  The  secret  was  con- 
fided to  Mazarin,  to  Chavigny  and  to  de  Noyers. 
It  was  proposed  to  present  the  Act  of  Deprivation 
for  the  sanction  of  the  Parliament  of  Paris,  and 
subsequently  to  convoke  the  States  of  the  realm 
to  give  it  final  ratification.  The  death  of  the 
Cardinal  however  intervened  before  this  great 
judicial  decree  was  ready  for  presentation  either 
to  the  council  of  state  or  to  the  Parliament. 
Cardinal  Mazarin  meantime  had  been  promoted 
to  the  place  vacant  by  the  death  of  Father 
Joseph  50 — that  of  confidential  adviser  and  bosom 
friend  of  the  minister.  The  charming  manners  of 
the  subtle  Italian,  his  pliability  and  keen  intellect, 
his  vast  conceptions  of  the  power  of  the  sovereign 
prerogative,  and  his  unaffected  sympathy  for  the 
woes,  mental  and  bodily,  of  Richelieu,  rendered 
him  an  indispensable  personage  at  the  Palais 
Cardinal.  Mazarin's  61  soft  words  and  winning 


522  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1639- 

appeals  fell  like  oil  on  the  billows  of  royal  wrath, 
and  often  under  his  soothing  expostulations 
Louis'  troubles  subsided.  It  was  remarked  by 
all  the  habitues  of  the  Louvre  that  since  the  death 
of  Cinq-Mars  the  temper  of  the  King  had  become 
more  morose,  and  that  at  times  his  Majesty 
could  scarcely  conceal  his  fear  and  his  detestation 
of  his  minister.  So  threatening  was  the  temper 
of  the  King,  that  Richelieu  remembering  the  fate 
of  the  Marquis  d'Ancre  seldom  ventured  to  the 
Louvre.  About  this  time  therefore  he  demanded 
that  his  guards  might  attend  him  to  the  palace 
and  wait  his  exit  in  the  guard- chamber  of  the 
Louvre.  The  request  threw  the  King  into  a 
paroxysm  of  wrath,  which  was  increased  when 
one  afternoon  Chavigny  appeared  with  a  per- 
emptory demand  from  the  minister  for  the  dis- 
missal of  four  officers  of  the  household — to  wit, 
Troisville,  lieutenant  of  the  famed  Mousque- 
taires  du  Roi ;  of  MM.  Tailladet,  La  Salle,  and 
des  Essarts,  captains  in  the  body-guard.  The 
Cardinal  pleaded  that  his  life  was  not  safe  from 
the  violence  of  these  gentlemen  ;  that  M.  de  Cinq- 
Mars  had  deposed  at  his  trial  that  the  King  on 
introducing  to  him  M.  de  Troisville  said,  "  Behold 
M.  le  Grand,  a  truly  faithful  man  who  wall  any 
day  at  my  command  rid  me  of  M.  le  Cardinal ;  " 
that  if  his  Majesty  should  be  pleased  to  deny  his 
request  he  must  retire  from  the  perilous  burden 
of  affairs.  "  But,  M.  de  Chavigny,"  replied  the 
King,  "  consider — Troisville  62  serves  me  faith- 
fully, and  he  has  received  abundant  proofs  of  my 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  523 

satisfaction  at  his  services  !  "  "  Sire  !  "  retorted 
Chavigny,  "  consider  also  how  well  M.  le  Cardinal 
has  served  you  !  consider  that  he  is  faithful  and 
moreover  indispensable  to  your  government.  You 
ought  not  to  weigh  a  M.  de  Troisville  in  the  same 
balance  !  j:  Louis  made  no  reply  and  the  secre- 
tary of  state  therefore  withdrew  to  report  to 
Richelieu  the  result  of  his  audience.  "  What,  M. 
de  Chavigny,  you  said  nothing  more  !  You  did 
not  press  the  King  more  urgently,  you  did  not 
tell  his  Majesty  that  he  had  no  alternative  but  to 
comply  !  "  exclaimed  the  Cardinal,  fiercely.63  A 
few  days  elapsed  during  which  Richelieu  caused 
rumours  to  be  bruited  abroad  that  he  was  about 
to  resign  the  conduct  of  affairs.  The  panic  was 
great,  and  the  Dutch  ambassador  again  asked 
audience  of  the  King  to  impart  the  fears  of  his 
government.  He  intimated  that  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  minister  professing  a  less  liberal  policy 
than  M.  le  Cardinal  would  necessarily  be  followed 
by  a  treaty  of  peace  between  the  States  of  Holland 
and  his  Catholic  Majesty,  as  it  did  not  seem 
probable  that  a  minister  of  rigid  orthodoxy  wrould 
long  maintain  the  alliances  of  the  French  crown 
with  the  heretic  Powers  of  Europe.  The  same 
remonstrances  were  spoken  by  Grotius  on  behalf 
of  the  young  Queen  Christina  of  Sweden.  The 
adherents  of  Monsieur  also  took  heart  and  began 
to  show  themselves  in  Paris.  The  Cardinal  was 
enraptured  at  the  ferment,  which  completed  the 
despairing  perplexity  of  the  King.  Chavigny 
therefore  soon  afterwards  appeared  at  St. 


524  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1639- 

Germain,  and  presented  a  paper  which  contained 
the  formal  resignation  by  Richelieu  of  his  offices 
and  a  demand  for  permission  to  withdraw  to  the 
chateau  de  Richelieu.  The  fury  of  the  King  was 
now  vehemently  excited.  "  Leave  me !  ':  ex- 
claimed his  Majesty,  "  leave  me,  sir,  and  carry 
back  this  paper  to  him  who  sent  you,  and  say  that 
I  mistrust  those  around  him  far  more  than  he 
suspects  the  worthy  lieutenant  of  my  musketeers 
and  the  three  honest  captains  he  names  !  I  refer 
to  you,  Chavigny,  and  to  your  friend  de  Noyers. 
If  Troisville  and  the  others  are  exiled  I  will 
banish  you  both  from  court  at  the  same  time."  6i 
Notwithstanding  the  displeasure  of  the  King, 
Richelieu  persisted  in  his  demand  of  retiring  from 
office.  On  the  26th  of  November  therefore  the 
three  captains  received  conge.  The  King  made 
one  more  effort  on  behalf  of  Troisville,  whom 
he  highly  esteemed,  but  this  resistance  was  a 
further  incentive  to  the  Cardinal  to  insist  upon 
his  dismissal.  "  Perseverance,  like  faith,  removes 
mountains,"  observed  his  Eminence  to  Mazarin ; 
"  Troisville  shall  decamp."  Louis  was  com- 
pelled by  his  inert  habits  and  his  inaptitude  for 
affairs  to  accept  this  alternative  rather  than  the 
resignation  of  his  minister.  He  however  refused 
to  nominate  other  persons  to  the  posts  vacated, 
but  decreed  that  his  exiled  officers  should  continue 
to  receive  their  pay  regularly  as  if  in  actual  service. 
On  the  1st  of  December  Louis  sent  a  gracious 
message  to  Troisville.  "  I  am  expressly  ordered 
by  his  Majesty,"  said  the  King's  envoy,  "  to 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  525 

assure  you  of  his  favour.  If  he  has  reluctantly 
consented  to  your  exile  from  the  importunities  of 
the  Cardinal  his  Majesty  has  diminished  towards 
you  nothing  of  his  accustomed  bienveillance,  he 
permits  you  to  leave  the  court  but  only  for  an 
interval.  The  King  commands  you  to  retire  to 
Moustiers,  your  pensions  and  your  pay  will  be 
remitted  to  you  as  usual,  the  only  difference  being 
that  his  Majesty  increases  them  by  one  half  and 
bids  you  remember  him  with  affection."  55  Trois- 
ville  left  the  Louvre  with  tears  of  regret,  ready  to 
perpetrate  any  deed  at  the  bidding  of  his  master. 
He  quitted  Paris,  omitting  the  usual  formality  of 
leaving  his  name  at  the  Palais  Cardinal.  Mazarin 
then  repaired  to  St.  Germain,  and  with  his  sleek 
tongue  and  ready  plausibility  tried  to  soothe  the 
King,  and  to  induce  him  to  receive  again  the 
two  secretaries  of  state — Chavigny,  who  was 
popularly  nicknamed  "  the  Cardinal's  jackal," 
and  de  Noyers. 

A  greater  Master,  howrever,  than  the  one  whom  he 
so  recklessly  braved  demanded  from  the  Cardinal 
an  account  of  his  stewardship.  The  agitation  of 
his  conflict  with  the  King  had  greatly  exhausted 
his  strength.  On  the  1st  of  December,  the  day 
upon  which  Troisville  left  Paris,  Richelieu  awoke 
in  a  shivering  fit  and  suffering  intolerable  pain  in 
the  right  side  and  in  the  chest.  The  physician  bled 
him  and  applied  blisters.  On  the  following  days, 
Sunday  and  Monday,  Richelieu  was  no  better  ; 
his  respiration  was  laboured  and  his  sufferings 
constant.  On  Tuesday  mass  was  said  by  Lescot, 


526  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1639- 

bishop- designate  of  Chartres  and  confessor  to  his 
Eminence.  Afterwards  the  Cardinal  received  the 
Holy  Eucharist  with  great  outward  demonstra- 
tions of  fervour.  On  this  day  also  prayers  for  his 
recovery  were  said  in  all  the  churches  of  the  capital. 
During  the  afternoon  of  this  same  day  the  suffer- 
ings of  Richelieu  became  so  intense  that  his 
physicians,  believing  that  he  could  not  survive 
many  hours,  recommended  that  a  despatch  should 
be  sent  to  St.  Germain  to  inform  Louis  of  the 
extremity  of  his  minister  who  earnestly  desired 
an  interview.  The  King  immediately  repaired  in 
somewhat  ungracious  mood  to  the  Palais  Car- 
dinal.6* The  scene  in  the  sick  man's  chamber  was 
striking  and  impressive.  Richelieu,  propped  up  by 
pillows  and  gasping  for  breath,  was  supported 
by  the  Duchess  d'Aiguillon,  by  his  nephew  the 
Marshal  de  Breze  and  by  Chavigny  on  one  side  ; 
on  the  other  side  of  the  couch  stood  Mazarin  and 
the  bishop  of  Chartres.  The  room  was  filled  by  a 
throng  of  courtiers,  bishops  and  attendants, 
whose  glances  were  riveted  on  the  agonised  face 
of  the  sufferer.  At  a  little  altar  not  very  distant 
from  the  bed,  Seguier,  bishop  of  Meaux,  offered 
intercessory  prayers  and  read  passages  from 
1' Office  des  Mourants.  All  retired  as  King  Louis 
entered  attended  by  the  Marquis  de  Villequier. 
The  fast-fleeting  strength  of  Richelieu  seemed 
restored  on  beholding  the  King.  "  Sire,"  said  he, 
*'  I  now  say  to  you  adieu  for  ever  in  this  world. 
In  taking  my  leave  of  your  Majesty,  I  behold  your 
kingdom  more  puissant  than  ever  and  your 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  527 

enemies  vanquished ;  the  only  recompense  I 
presume  to  beseech  is  your  favour  and  protection 
for  my  nephews  and  kinsmen.  Your  Majesty  has 
many  learned  and  competent  personages  in  your 
council — retain  their  assistance."  Faintness  com- 
ing over  the  sufferer,  Louis  took  a  cup  from  the 
hand  of  an  attendant  and  himself  administered 
a  restorative.  Richelieu's  voice  had  sunk  to  a 
whisper  ;  he  afterwards,  it  was  said,  recommended 
Mazarin  as  his  successor.67  The  King  made  a 
general  promise  to  attend  to  the  advice  given  him 
and  hurriedly  took  his  leave  of  the  dying  man. 
Afterwards  his  Majesty  addressed  a  few  words  to 
the  Duchess  d'Aiguillon,  who  sat  apart  [weep* 
ing  bitterly.  He  then  leisurely  strolled  through 
Richelieu's  matchless  gallery  of  pictures,  before 
returning  to  the  Louvre,  with  an  air  of  heartless 
unconcern  which  occasioned  many  comments.*8 

After  the  departure  of  the  King,  Richelieu  lay 
in  silence  and  exhaustion  for  upwards  of  an  hour. 
He  then  called  his  physicians  and  asked  how  long 
he  was  likely  to  survive.  These  personages  declared 
that  they  even  then  did  not  despair  of  his  life,  as 
Providence  would  doubtless  work  a  miracle  on 
behalf  of  a  personage  so  indispensable  to  the 
realm.  A  murmur  of  impatience  escaped  the 
lips  of  the  Cardinal,  and  beckoning  to  Chicot, 
physician  in  ordinary  to  the  King,  he  said :  "  Mon- 
sieur, I  conjure  you  as  a  Christian  gentleman  and 
not  regarding  your  medical  capacity,  to  tell  me 
how  long  I  have  to  live."  "  Monseigneur,  I  be- 
lieve that  within  four-and-twenty  hours  you  will 


528  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1639- 

be  either  cured  or  at  rest."    "  I  understand  :   you 
speak  like  an  honest  man,"  replied  the  Cardinal. 
Addressing  his  confessor,  Lescot,  he  then  requested 
that   Extreme   Unction   might   be   administered 
with  as  little  delay  as  possible.   The  Cardinal  then 
conversed  for  a  few  minutes  in  a  whisper  with  his 
niece,  Madame  d'Aiguillon,  and  extorted  from  her 
a  promise  that  she  would  relinquish  her  resolve  to 
embrace  a  monastic  life.59    At  midnight,  Decem- 
ber 3rd,  the  last  Sacraments  were  administered. 
The  Host  was  borne  to  the  bedside  of  the  dying 
man  by  the  Cure  de  St.  Eustache.    He  rose  from 
his  pillow  and  with  outstretched  arms  exclaimed, 
pointing  to  the  Ciborium,  in  a  voice  which  had 
suddenly  recovered  its  loud  ringing  tones :   "  Be- 
hold my  Judge  and  my  Saviour  !    I  pray  Him  to 
condemn  me,  if  I  have  not  preferred  before  all 
things  the  welfare  of  religion  and  the  prosperity 
of  this  realm  !   Speak  to  me,  M.  le  Cure  ;   speak  as 
to  a  great  sinner — treat  me  as  one  of  the  least  of 
your  penitents  !  ':   The  priests  present  then  recited 
the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the  Apostles'  Creed.    "  Do 
you,  Monseigneur,  faithfully  believe  and  hold  all 
these  articles  of  the  Christian  Faith  ?  "    "  With- 
out simulation  ;  if  I  had  a  thousand  lives  I  would 
give  them  for  the  Faith  and  for  Holy  Church," 
replied  Richelieu.    "  Monseigneur,  do  you  pardon 
your  enemies  ?    and  if  it  should  please  God  to 
restore  you  to  health,  do  you  purpose  to  serve 
Him  with  tenfold  zeal,  tenfold  devotion  ?  '      "I 
forgive  my  enemies,  even  as  I  pray  for  pardon 
If  God  in  His  Omniscience  foresees  that  hereafter, 


1C42J  ANNE  OP  AUSTRIA  529 

should  my  life  be  granted  to  me,  I  might  fail  in 
my  devotion,  may  He  rather  smite  me  with 
instant  death  !  ':  replied  the  Cardinal ;  adding 
feebly,  after  an  interval,  "  God's  will  be  done  ! 
I  ask  not,  I  pray  not  for  life.  His  will  be  done  !  " 
The  sacred  rites  were  then  administered.  "  I  was 
smitten  with  wonder  and  amaze  at  beholding  a 
man  raised  to  the  very  pinnacle  of  fortune  show 
so  little  regard  for  life,  and  depart  willingly  from 
so  magnificent  and  heroic  a  destiny,"  writes  one 
of  the  spectators  of  the  last  hours  of  Richelieu  to 
the  ambassador  in  Rome,  M.  de  Fontenoy  Mareuil. 
"  I  admired  the  gravity  and  sweetness  displayed 
by  him  who  had  charmed  all  hearts  and  won  all 
intellectual  minds  during  the  last  fleeting  moments 
of  life."  60 

The  sensation  in  Paris,  meantime,  was  tremen- 
dous— the  portals  of  the  Palais  Cardinal  stood  open 
and  personages  of  distinction  were  passing  and 
repassing  every  hour  during  the  day  and  night. 
While  the  last  Sacraments  were  being  adminis- 
tered a  crowd  kept  possession  of  the  neighbouring 
streets,  awaiting  with  anxious  interest  the  reports 
of  the  messengers  hourly  despatched  to  the 
Louvre.61  Within  the  palace  the  vast  apartments 
were  thronged — even  the  bedchamber  of  the  dying 
man  was  thrown  open  for  the  convenience  of  the 
more  eminent  amongst  the  courtiers,  who  desired 
to  gaze  upon  the  last  mortal  agonies  of  the  great 
minister.  The  following  morning,  being  Decem- 
ber 4th,  a  slight  improvement  in  the  Cardinal's 
condition  was  reported.  He  again  engaged  in 

2L 


530  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1639- 

prayer,  bade  farewell  to  Chavigny,  and  thanked 
his  physicians  for  their  care.  As  the  morning 
advanced  however  it  was  evident  that  Richelieu 
was  fast  passing  away.  At  eleven  o'clock  he 
fainted  but  recovered  again,  and  about  midday 
he  expired,  apparently  without  much  suffering. 
After  recovering  from  his  sudden  faint,  Richelieu, 
though  speechless,  continued  in  possession  of  his 
other  faculties  up  to  the  last  moment.82  Solemn 
silence  fell  on  the  assemblage  present  after  the 
great  master-spirit  of  the  age  had  passed  from 
earth.  Madame  d'Aiguillon  then  tenderly  kissed 
the  lifeless  lips,  and  was  led  to  the  door  of  the 
appartement  by  the  Due  de  Breze. 

The  friends  of  Richelieu  then  slowly  approached 
to  gaze  on  the  corpse.  MM.  de  Guiche  and  de 
Breze  advanced  first ;  they  were  followed  by 
Mazarin  and  by  Chavigny  who  both  wept  bitterly. 
An  hour  thus  elapsed,  when  by  command  of  the 
Due  de  Breze,  nephew  of  the  deceased  Cardinal, 
the  folding  doors  of  the  chamber  were  closed  to 
enable  the  attendants  to  perform  the  last  sad  offices. 

Information  of  the  death  of  the  Cardinal  de 
Richelieu  was  conveyed  to  the  King  by  de  Noyers. 
Louis  was  sitting  alone  in  his  dreary  chamber  over- 
looking the  Seine.  He  heard  the  tidings  in  silence, 
but  a  pallor  overspread  his  cheek.  At  length  his 
Majesty  observed  while  waving  his  hand  in  sign 
of  dismissal  to  de  Noyers :  "  Voila  un  grand 
politique  mort !  "  63 

A  post-mortem  examination  of  the  Cardinal's 
remains  was  made  immediately  after  his  death. 


1042]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  531 

His  lungs  were  extensively  diseased ;  and  the 
immediate  cause  of  death  was  found  to  be  the 
breaking  of  an  abscess  on  the  left  lobe  of  the 
lungs.  The  body  was  embalmed  and  lay  in  state 
for  five  days.  The  funeral  obsequies  were  cele- 
brated with  little  pomp  in  the  church  of  the  Sor- 
bonne,  where  the  body  of  the  great  Cardinal  was 
deposited  in  the  magnificent  mausoleum  which  he 
had  caused  to  be  constructed  before  the  high  altar 
of  that  church. 

By  his  last  will  and  testament  Richelieu  con- 
firmed to  the  King  his  previous  donations  of  the 
Palais  Cardinal,  of  his  superb  golden  altar 
vessels,  and  of  his  largest  diamond.  He,  moreover, 
bequeathed  to  the  King  tapestry  hangings  for 
eight  spacious  chambers  and  three  state  beds, 
which  were  to  be  selected  by  the  Duchess 
d'Aiguillon.  To  Armand  de  Maille,64  Due  de 
Breze,  his  nephew  and  god-son,  he  bequeathed  the 
duchy  of  Fronsac,  the  duchy  of  Beaufort,  and 
other  lands  and  manors  together  with  a  sum  of 
several  millions  of  livres.  To  his  niece,  the 
Duchess  d'Aiguillon,  he  bequeathed  the  H6tel 
du  Petit  Luxembourg  and  his  chateau  de  Ruel, 
with  an  immense  revenue,  the  whole  to  revert  on 
her  death  to  the  Due  de  Richelieu.  The  Duchess 
also  inherited  her  uncle's  jewels  and  his  cele- 
brated service  of  gold  plate.  The  eldest  son  of  his 
brother-in-law,  the  Marquis  de  Pontcourlay,  was 
the  Cardinal's  principal  heir.65  To  him  the  duchy 
of  Richelieu  was  bequeathed,  the  ancient  barony 
of  Barbezieux,  the  principality  of  Mortagne,  the 


532  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1639- 

counties  of  Cosnac  and  Saugeon,  and  the  rich 
manors  of  La  Ferte,  Bernard,  Brouage,  and  d'Hiers, 
besides  a  sum  of  more  than  three  millions  sterling. 
All  the  furniture  of  the  Palais  Cardinal — excepting 
that  bequeathed  to  King  Louis — the  splendid 
galleries  of  paintings  and  sculpture,  the  collec- 
tions of  china,  the  cabinet  of  gems  and  enamels 
and  Venetian  glass,  were  left  to  the  future  Due  de 
Richelieu  to  furnish  the  Hotel  de  Richelieu.  His 
library  was  bequeathed  by  the  Cardinal  to  the 
nation,  under  the  perpetual  guardianship  of  the 
members  of  the  College  de  Sorbonne,  from  amongst 
whom  the  librarians  were  always  to  be  chosen. 
The  amount  bequeathed  by  Richelieu  in  legacies 
to  his  friends  and  servants  alone  exceeded  the 
sum  of  two  millions  of  francs.66 

NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  NINE 

1  "  On  soup9onnoit  a  la  Cour  de  France  que  Chevreuse  vint  a  Londres 
pour  proposer  un  manage  entre  le  Prince  d'Espagne,  et  la  fille  ainee  du 
Roi  de  la  Grande  Bretagne." — Bibl.  Imp.  MS.  de  Colbert,  t.  ii.,  pub- 
lished by  M.  Cousin. — Vie  de  Madame  de  Chevreuse. 

2  Ibid. 

3  Paul  Scarron,  born  1610,  the  first  husband  of  Madame   de   Main- 
tenon.  Madame  de  Hautefort,  on  her  return  to  the  court,  presented  the 
poet  to  the  Regent  Anne.     "  Madame,  permettez  que  je  sois  votre 
malade,  en  titre  d'office,"  exclaimed  Scarron,  facetiously.   Scarron  was 
already  crippled  and  deformed  from  an  immersion  of  many  hours  in  the 
river  Sarthe  to  escape  the  consequences  of  a  youthful  frolic  in  which 
he  had  incurred  the  indignation  of  his  townsmen. 

4  Vie  de  M.  de  Cinq-Mars,  Grand  Ecuyer  de  France.     Galerie  des  Per- 
sonnages  Illustres  de  la  Cour  de  Louis  XIII.     Tallemant  des  Reaux. 
"  Nous  avons  un  favori  a  la  cour,  qui  est  M.  de  Cinq-Mars,  fils  de  feu 
M.  le  Marechal  d'Effiat,  dependant,  tout-a-fait  de  Monseigneur  le 
Cardinal.  Jamais  le  roi  n'a  eu  passion  plus  violente  pour  personne  que 
pour  lui.    Sa  Majeste  recompense  la  charge  de  Grand  Ecuyer  qu'a  M. 
de  Bellegarde,  pour  la  lui  donner.    Ce  n'est  pas  un  trop  vilain  debut 
pour  un  homme  de  dix-neuf  ans."'— Lettre  de  M.  de  Chavigny  a  M.  de 
Mazarin. 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  533 

5  Marion  de  1'Orme,  born  in  1611,  died  in  1650.    "  C'etoit  une   belle 
personne,"  relates  Tallemant  ;    "le  nez  lui  rougissait  quelquefois,  et 
pour  cela  elle  se  tenait  les  matinees  entieres  les  pieds  dans  1'eau."   She 
used  to  visit  Richelieu  :    "  deguisee  en  page  ;  il  la  regut  en  habit  de 
satin  gris  de  lin,  en  broderie  d'or  et  d'argent,  botte,  et  avec  des  plumes." 
—Tallemant,  t.  2,  p.  194. 

6  Godefroy,  Grand  Cerem.   de  France,    t.    ii. — Naissance    de    Mon- 
seigneur  le  Due  d'Anjou,   Philippe  de  France. — Hilarion  de  Coste, 
filoges  des  Dauphins  de  France. 

7  "  La  petite  cour  de  la  reine  ressembloit  a  des  pensionnaires  en  recre- 
ation— Madame  d'Aiguillon  faisoit  les  honneurs  avec  le  Cardinal." — 
M6m.  d'Anne  de  Gonzague,  Princesse  Palatine. 

8  Memoires  de  Mademoiselle  de  Montpensier,  t.  1.    Galerie  des  Person- 
nages  Illustres  de  la  Cour  de  Louis  XIII. ,  t.  4. 

9  Aub6ry,  Mem.  pour  servir  a  1'Hist.  du  Card,  de  Richelieu,  t.  5. 

10  Ibid. 

11  Ibid. 

12  Proces  Verbal  du  Proces  de  Cinq-Mars  et  de  M.  de  Thou.   Tallemant 
des  Reaux. — Vie  de  M.  de  Cinq-Mars.  Galerie  des  Personnages  Illustres 
de  la  Cour  de  Louis  XIII.,  t.  4. 

13  Galerie  des  Personnages  Illustres  de  la  Cour  de  Louis  XIII. ,  t.  4, 
p.  518. 

14  Many  persons,  however,  thought  that  the  Queen,  moved  by  insatiable 
ambition,  and  even  fearful  that  untoward  revelations  might  hurl  her 
from  the  throne,  encouraged  the  malcontents  so  long  as  their  machina- 
tions were  confined  to  France.    "  M.  le  Grand  a  ete  pousse  a  son  mauvais 
dessein  par  la  Reine-mere,  par  sa  fille,  par  la  Reine  de  France,  par 
Madame  de  Chevreuse,  par  Montagu,    et  autres    papistes    d'Angle- 
terre." — Archives  des  Affaires  fitrangeres,  France,  t.  101.     Lettre,  44. 
Juillet. 

15  "  Le  Roy  s'est  afin  retourne  dans  son  lit,  et  m'a  dit  d'une  voix 
attendrie  :    '  Bon  soir,  faite  pour  le  mieux  ;  mais  ne  commettez  point 
d 'imprudence.'    Jugez,  ma  chere  princesse,  si  je  ne  suis  pas  autorise  a 
tout  entreprendre  !  " — Lettre  de  M.  de  Cinq-Mars  a  la  Princesse  Marie 
de  Gonzague  de  Nevers. 

16  Louis  d'Astarac,  Vicomte  de  Fontrailles.     The  Cardinal  one  day 
encountered  Fontrailles  in  an  antechamber  of  the  Louvre,   as  his 
Eminence  was  advancing  in  haste  to  receive  some  ambassador. "  Rangez- 
vous,  rangez  vous,  Monsieur  !  "  exclaimed  Richelieu,  hurriedly.    "  Ne 
vous  montrez  pas  !   Get  ambassadeur  n'aime  pas  les  monstres  !  " 

17  Mademoiselle  asserts  that  the  Queen  was  secretly  apprised  of  the 
treaty  by  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  that  she  did  not  disapprove,  but 
resolutely  refused  to  share  the  peril.   The  duke  was  the  only  personage 
who  was  aware  of  Anne's  knowledge,  and  of  her  resolve  to  take  no  share 
in  the  proceedings,  but  on  the  contrary,  to  disavow  all  relations  with 
the  conspirators.     The  Queen  never  ceased,  it  is  alleged,  to  suspect 


534  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF         [1689- 

Richelieu,  whatever  might  be  the  near  liaison  between  them  ;  "  Sa 
Majeste,"  writes  the  Duo  de  Bouillon,  "ne  douta  point  que  si  le  Roi 
venait  a  mourir,  le  ministre  ne  voulut  lui  oter  ses  enfants  pour  se  faire 
donner  a  lui-meme  la  regence  ;  aussi  par  le  moyen  de  M.  le  Grand,  elle 
voulait  assurer  sa  puissance." 

18  Hist,  du  Regne  de  Louis  XIII. ,  Le  Vassor.    Bernard.    M6m.    de 
Bouillon,  de  la  Rochefoucauld,  &c. 

19  The  Duke  de  la  Rochefoucauld,  in  his  Memoirs  (p.  362,  et  seq.),  affirms 
that  Anne  knew  of  the  negotiations  of  Cinq-Mars  with  sundry  vassals  of 
the  crown,  and  sent  M.  de  Thou  to  inform  him,  "  de  sa  liaison  avec  M.  lo 
Grand,  et  qu'elle  lui  avait  promis  que  je  serois  de  ses  amis."  The  duke, 
however,  acquits  the  Queen  of  any  knowledge  of  the  dealings  of  the  con- 
spirators with  Spain,  of  which  he  states  that  her  Majesty  was  perfectly 
ignorant,   and  disclaimed  with    horror   when  they  came  to  light. 
Apparently  Anne  wished  to  profit  by  the  conspiracy,  but  to  avoid  ita 
penalties. 

20  Vie  de  M.  de  Cinq-Mars  ;  Hist,  du  Card.  Due  de  Richelieu. 

21  Anne  distrusted  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  who  never  ceased  to  make  open 
declaration  of  the  illegitimacy  of  the  young  Dauphin  and  his  brother. 
Her  Majesty,  it  was  alleged,  wished  to  secure  the  regency  by  any 
method,    but    she    shrank   in    displeasure     before     a    combination, 
strengthened  by  the  adhesion  of  Spain,  and  of  which  Monsieur  was 
chief,  which  might  hereafter  be  used  against  the  rights  of  her  son. 

22  Fontrailles  replied,  in  answer  to  the  solicitations  of  Cinq-Mars  not 
to  abandon  France :  " '  Pour  vous,  Monsieur,  vous  serez  encore  d'assez 
belle  taille  quand  on  vous  aura  ote  la  tete  de  dessus  les  epaules,  mais 
en  verite  je  suis  trop  petit  pour  cela.'   H  se  sauva  en  habit  de  capucin, 
comme  il  etoit  alle  faire  le  traite  en  Espagne." 

23  Richelieu  draws  a  frightful  picture  in  this  letter  of  the  probable 
troubles  lurking  over  the  realm  :   amongst  other  subjects  of  alarm  he 
instances,  les  lettres  du  Prince  d'Orange  ;  la   gazette  de  Brussels  et 
celle  de  Cologne  ;  les  preparatif  s  de  la  reine-mere  pour  venir  en  France  ; 
ce  qui  s'ecrit  par  lettres  sures  de  Madame  de  Chevreuse  ;  les  avis  que 
viennent  d'ltalie  ;  les  esperances  des  Espagnols  ;  et  la  resolution  que 
Monsieur  a  prit  de  ne  pas  venir  a  la  Cour. 

24  Lettre  de  De  Noyers  a  Chavigny,  retourne  a  Tarascon.  Archives  des 
Affaires  Etrangeres,  t.  102.   Cousin,  Vie  de  Madame  de  Chevreuse. 

25  Ibid. 

26  Vie  de   Cinq-Mars.      Galerie    des    Personnages     Illustres     de    la 
Cour  de  Louis  XIII.    San  Treijo.     Le  Vassor,     Mem.  du  Cardinal  de 
Richelieu. 

27  Langlade,  Vie  de  Frederic  Maurice  de  la  Tour  d'Auvergne,  Due  de 
Bouillon.— Paris,  1692. 

28  Le  Vassor,  Hist,  du  Regne  de  Louis  XIII.     Bayle  Diet.  Article 
Louis  XIII.    Nouvelle  Vie  d'Anne  d'Autriche,  t.  1. 

29  Vol.  MS.  101, 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  535 

30  Juillet,  1642.    Ibid.  vol.  102.    Archives  dee  Affaires  fitrangeres  de 
France. 

31  Ibid.  MS. 

32  Fontrailles.    Relation  des  choses  particulieres  do  la  Cour  pendant  la 
faveur  de  M.  de  Cinq-Mars.     Pettitot,  vol.  54. 

33  MS.  Archives  des  Affaires  fitrangeres,  vol.  102.    Lettre  28  Juillet. 

34  At  one  of  these  entertainments,  called  "  Le  Ballet  des  Prosperites 
de  1'armee  de  France,"  the  Bishop  of  Chartres  handed  the  salver  of 
refreshments  to  the  Queen.    The  salver  held  twenty  silver  dishes  piled 
with  preserved  fruits,  sweetmeats,  and  marmalade. — Mem.  de  1'Abbe 
de  Marolles. 

35  Dreux  du  Radier.    Vie  de  Marie  de'  Medici.     Mem.  de  Brienne,  t.  2. 
Motteville  M6moires,  t.  1.    Siri  M6m.  Recondite.    The  following  verse 
was  composed  in  allusion  to  the  place  of  her  interment,  near  the  shrine 
of  the  Three  Kings  in  the  Cathedral  of  Cologne  : 

"  Tros  Reges  mihi  dona  ferunt :  dat  thura  BRITAKNTTS, 
Aurum  IBER  ;  at  myrrham  tu  mihi,  NATE,  dabis." 

36  Testament  de  Marie  de'  Medici,  Reine,  Mere  du  Roi. — Journal  de 
Richelieu. 

37  Tallemant  des  Reaux.   The  royal  words  were,  "  L'ame  de  Cinq-Mars 
est  aussi  noire  que  le  cul  de  ce  poelon." 

8  Lettre  de  Cachet  au  Parleinent  de  Paris  sur  les  Deportments  de 
M.  de  Cinq-Mars. — Archives  Curieuses,  t.  5,  2me  series. 

39  Ibid.    Richelieu  assured  Monsieur  that  this  submission  to  the  royal 
will  "  ne  lui  porterait  aucun  deshonneur  ;    et  qu'au  contraire  s'il  le 
faisait  resoluement  et  noblement,  elle  passerait  pour  une  acte  de  bonte 
et  de  gdnerosite  tout  a  fait  digne  d'un  grand  prince  !  "  When  Richelieu 
had  extorted  from  the  craven  Prince  all  he  wanted  he  speedily  changed 
his  tone  ! 

40  Proces  de  MM.  de  Cinq-Mars  et  de  Thou :   Archives  Curieuses,  t.  5. 
Vie  de  M.  de  Cinq-Mars.  Galerie  des  Personnages  Ulustres  de  la  Cour  de 
Louis  XIII.,  t.  4. 

41  Aubery,  Mem.  pour  servir  a  1'Histoire  de  Card,  de  Richelieu,  t.  5. 
Marie  de  Fourci,  Marechale  d'Effiat.  Cinq-Mars  had  one  sister,  Marie 
Coiffier  :  she  was  first  betrothed  to  Jean  d'Aligre,  Seigneur  de  Beauvais, 
but  eventually  married  Charlesde  la  Porte,  Marshal  Due  de  la  Meilleraye. 
Their  only  son  was  the  husband  of  the  heiress  of  Mazarin,  Hortense 
Mancini. 

42  Langlade  :   Vie  du  Due  de  Bouillon  (Fred.  Maurice).   See  the  letters 
which  passed  between  Richelieu  and  Madame  de  Bouillon,  Aubery,  t.  v. 

43  "  On  arreta,"  writes  Langlade,  "  que  le  Roy  auroit  la  place  ;  qu'il  en 
donnerait  la  recompense  en  terres  dans  le  royaume  ;  que  pendant  qu  en 
travailleroit  a  1 'execution  des  conditions,  le  due  sorterait  de  prison." 

44  "  La  chaque  jour  le  due  donnait  quelques  heures  a  la  lecture  des 
Saints  Peres,  et  a  la  priere," — Langlade,  Vie  du  Due  de  Bouillon, 


536  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF          [1639- 

45  Aubery,  Mem.  pour  1'Hist.  du  Card,  de  Richelieu,  t.  v. 

46  "  Comme  le  Cardinal  etait  incommode,  il  trouva  moyen  de  marcher 
sans  se  lever  de  son  lit,  y  etant  couche  et  porte  par  seize  personnes. 
Jamais  il  n'entroit  par  la  porte  dans  la  maison  ou  il  devoit  loger  ;  mais 
M.  du  Noyers,  faisant  pour  le  dire  ainsi  le  marechal  de  logis,  allait 
devant,  et  avoit  soin  de  faire  faire  une  overture  a  1'endroit  des  fenetres 
de  la  chambre  ou  il  devoit  reposer.     On  dressoit  en  meme  temps  un 
grand  echafaud  dans  la  rue,  sur  lequel  on  montait  par  des  degres  afin 
que  Ton  put  passer,  et  faire  entrer  dans  la  chambre,  le  lit  magnifique 
dans  lequel  son  Eminence  etait  couchee." — Mem.  du  Sieur  de  Pontis. 

47  Mem.  de  Michel  de  Marolles  :   Paris,  1656. 

48  "  On  tendit  les  chaines  a  Paris  dans  toutes  les  rues  ou  il  devoit 
passer,  afin  d'empecher  la  grande  confusion  du  peuple,  qui  accourait  de 
toutes  parts  pour  voir  cette  espece  de  triomphe  d"un  Cardinal,  et  d'un 
ministre  couche  dans  son  lit,"  &c. 

49  Hist,  de  la  Fronde — Sainte  Aulaire,  p.  72. 

50  Father  Joseph  de  Tremblay  died  at  Ruel  in  April  of  the  year  1638. 

51  Giulio  Mazzarini,  born  1592,  died  1661. 

52  Henri  Joseph  de  Peyre,  Comte  de  Troisville. 

53  Tallemant — Le  Cardinal  de  Richelieu.     "  La  tete  vous  a  tourne, 
M.  de  Chavigny,  la  tete  vous  a  tourne  !  "    Chavigny  ensuite  lui  jura 
qu'il  avoit  dit  au  Roi,  "  Sire,  il  faut  que  vous  le  fassiez  !  " 

54  Galerie  des  Personnages  Illustres  de  la  Cour  de  France,  t.  4. 

55  Ibid.   Hist,  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu. — Mem.  du  Sieur  de  Pontis. 

56  "  Le  2  Decembre  apres  de  longues  solicitations,  Louis  alia  voir 
Richelieu,"  &c. 

57  The  Cardinal  had  previously  communicated  with  Mazarin,  and  had 
promised  to  recommend  him  to  the  Bang. 

58  Le  Roi  ne  fut  voir  le  Cardinal  qu'un  peu  avant  qu'il  mourut,  et 
Tayant  trouve  fort  mal,  en  sortit  fort  gai. — Tallemant  des  Reaux. 

59  Madame  d'Aiguillon  renouvelait  tous  les  ans  le  vreu  de  Carmelite  ; 
elle  1'a  renouvele  sept  f ois.  Le  Cardinal  fit  consul ter  s'il  etait  obligatoire, 
on  lui  repondit  que  non.    "  Je  vous  prie  "  (said  Richelieu  on  his  death- 
bed) "  d'avoir  soin  del'education  des  jeunes  Pontcourlay,  vos  neveux,  et 
les  miens  ;  retirez  vous,  ma  niece,  je  vous  prie — vous  etes  la  personne 
que  j'ai  le  plus  aimee." 

60  Lettre  sur  le  Trepas  de  Monseigneur  1'Eminentissime  Cardinal  de 
Richelieu  a  Monseigneur  le  Marquis  de  Fontenoy  Mareuil,  Ambassadeur 
de  sa  Majeste  a  Rome.     A  Paris,  1650. 

61  The  King  remained  at  the  Louvre  ;  the  Queen  was  at  St.  Germain. 

62  Lettre  sur  le  Trepas  de  I'Eminentissime  Cardinal  de  Richelieu. 
Galerie  des  Personnages  Illustres,  &c.,  t.  4.  Mem.  de  Pontis,  Tallemant, 
Bassompierre,  Motteville  ;  numbers  of  detached  pamphlets,  Le  Vassor, 
Leti,  Siri,  and  MSS.  authorities,  Bibl.  Imp.  Beth.  :   Colbert,  &c. 

13  Mem.  du  Sieur  de  Pontis,  who  stood  in  the  guard-chamber  adjoining 
the  King's  apartment  during  the  visit  of  de  Noyers.    "  Apres,"  relates 


1642]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  537 

de  Pontis,  "  les  Marechaux  de  la  Meillerayc  et  dc  Breze  s'avisa  de  se 
jetter  aux  pieds  du  Roi,  et  lui  demander  sa  protection  ;  le  Roi  les 
embrassa  et  leur  dit,  qu'il  les  aimeroit  toujours  pourvu  qu'ils  le  servissent 
fidelement." 

64  Armand  de  Maill6  Breze,  Due  de  Fronsac,  born  1619,  died  1648,  son 
of  Urbain  de  Maille,  Marquis  de  Breze,  and  of  Nicole  du  Plessis,  second 
sister  of  the  Cardinal,  who  died  1635,  insane. 

65  Fran9ois  de  Vignerot,  son  of  Rene  de  Vignerot,  Seigneur  de  Pont- 
courlay,  and  of  Fransoise  du  Plessis  de  Richelieu,  eldest  sister  of  the 
Cardinal.    Madame  d'Aiguillon  was  the  sister  of  Fra^ois  de  Vignerot, 
who  succeeded,  on  the  death  of  his  uncle,  to  the  dukedom  of  Richelieu, 
&c. 

86  Testament  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu. — Hist,  du  Cardinal  de  Richelieu, 
Leclerc,  Richard,  and  Le  Pere  Griffet. — Hist,  du  Regne  de  Louis  XIII. 


CHAPTER  X 
1643 

ANNE    OF   AUSTRIA   A   WIDOW 

Louis  XIII.  survived  his  minister  only  five 
months  and  ten  days.  The  bent  figure,  the 
emaciated  features,  and  the  feeble  voice  of  the 
King  when  he  appeared  in  public  for  the  first  time 
after  the  decease  of  Richelieu  inspired  his  loving 
subjects  with  painful  apprehensions.  The  deceased 
Cardinal  and  his  royal  master  had  mutually  worn 
each  other  out  by  the  bitter  irritation  of  their 
dissensions.  Remorse  likewise  was  said  to  oppress 
the  King  for  the  death  of  Montmorency,  and  his 
sleep  was  broken  by  wailing  regrets  for  his  lost 
favourite,  Cinq-Mars.  Louis  confirmed  all  the 
testamentary  bequests  of  the  Cardinal,  and  the 
court  went  into  mourning  for  a  fortnight.  The 
Queen  now  made  her  abode  entirely  at  St.  Ger- 
main ;  there  is  no  record  of  her  sentiments  on  the 
death  of  the  Cardinal,  except  that  she  was  much 
moved  by  the  recital  of  "  the  pious  end  "  made  by 
Richelieu.  Madame  de  Motteville  says,  "  qu'elle 
n'etait  pas  fort  affligee"  but  rather  absorbed  by 
the  novelty  of  her  position  in  the  realm,  as  mother 
of  two  beautiful  sons  and  the  wife  of  a  King  whose 
health  was  evidently  on  the  decline.  Mazarin  was 
now  constant  in  his  homage  to  Anne  of  Austria. 
Chavigny  declared  himself  her  ardent  partisan, 

538 


1643]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  539 

and  ready  to  defend  her  against  the  atrocious 
imputations  of  M.  d'Orleans,  who  avowed  his 
opinion  in  public  at  several  places  in  Auvergne 
and  the  Orleannois,  that  Monsieur  le  Dauphin  and 
his  brother  were  illegitimate,  and  stated  that  it 
was  his  intention  to  fight  for  the  succession  to  the 
crown.  Anne  experienced  no  gentler  treatment 
from  the  King  her  husband,  "  who  knew  her  too 
well  to  be  deluded  by  her  soft  speeches  and  syren 
charms."  *  The  Queen  doubtless  found  consola- 
tion in  the  brilliant  future  unfolding  before  her  ; 
she  drew  nearer  every  day  to  the  possession  of 
power  as  Regent  of  France  during  a  long  minority, 
and  Mazarin  now  hoped  to  win  special  graces  from 
her  notice.  The  King  though  ill  and  depressed* 
attended  daily  to  affairs  and  declared  that  he 
would  not  be  teased  by  a  prime  minister.  He 
opened  all  despatches  himself,  granted  pardons, 
permitted  the  return  of  the  exiles  and  did  every- 
thing in  his  power  to  convince  his  people  that  the 
late  rigorous  and  despotic  administration  had  been 
against  his  will  and  contrary  to  his  disposition. 
The  King  had  immediately  recalled  his  favourite 
Troisville  and  reinstated  him  in  his  command, 
which  he  exercised  on  the  occasion  of  the  Car- 
dinal's funeral.  He  also  released  the  Marshal  de 
Bassompierre  from  the  Bastille,  where  that  once 
gay  and  gallant  cavalier  had  languished  ever  since 
the  arrest  of  the  Queen-mother  at  Compiegne, 
solely  because  he  was  a  warm  admirer  of  Marie 
de'  Medici,  and  that  he  had  advised  the  imprison- 
ment of  Richelieu  at  the  secret  council  summoned 


540  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1643 

by  the  Queen-mother  at  Lyons  when  the  life 
of  the  King  had  been  in  danger.2  The  Marshal 
de  Vitry,  the  slayer  of  the  Marquis  d'Ancre,  also 
obtained  release  from  the  Bastille.  The  Cardinal 
had  thought  that  so  devoted  a  servant  to  his  King, 
and  a  hand  so  dexterous  in  the  use  of  a  pistol,  was 
better  under  the  safe  custody  of  his  faithful  de 
Tremblay  than  at  large.  The  Count  de  Cramail  3 
was  likewise  released ;  also  M.  Vaultier,  the 
physician  of  the  late  unfortunate  Queen- mother. 
The  political  exiles,  moreover,  eagerly  sought  the 
clemency  of  the  King.  The  Dues  d'Elbceuf,  de 
Vendome,  de  Bellegarde,  de  Guise,  returned  home ; 
swarms  of  minor  personages  flocked  back  again  to 
France.  No  one  seems  to  have  appealed  in  vain  to 
the  mercy  of  the  King  excepting  the  Duchess  de 
Chevreuse  and  Madame  de  Fargis.  Madame  de  la 
Flotte  was  also  reinstated,  but  Mesdames  de 
Senece,  de  Hautefort  and  de  Chemerault,  holding 
that  their  recall  to  court  ought  to  have  been  a 
spontaneous  act  of  clemency,  declined  to  petition. 
Madame  de  Chevreuse  received  a  harsh  and  decided 
refusal,  indeed  the  mind  of  the  King  appeared 
so  exasperated  against  her  that  no  one  presumed 
to  mention  her  name. 

During  the  first  few  days  of  his  independence 
Louis  appeared  almost  childishly  elate  with  his 
achievements  in  the  transaction  of  affairs.  After- 
wards, his  Majesty  seemed  to  move  like  a  man  in 
a  dream,  during  the  discharge  of  the  many  royal 
functions  which  he  had  suffered  to  devolve  upon 
Richelieu.  M.  de  Noyers  appeared  at  first  likely 


1643]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  541 

to  monopolise  the  royal  favour,  to  the  astonish- 
ment and  annoyance  of  Chavigny  and  Mazarin. 
Previous  to  the  death  of  Richelieu  he  had  seemed 
to  be  particularly  obnoxious  to  the  King,  who 
often  was  so  irritated  as  to  make  disobliging 
sallies  on  his  repulsive  features  and  fussy 
manners.  The  influence  of  de  Noyers  during 
these  first  days  of  emancipation  had  a  twofold 
source — he  was  a  man  of  strong,  patient  en- 
durance and  equable  nerves,  and  having  far  less 
self-appreciation  than  Chavigny  or  Mazarin, 
suffered  the  King  to  vaunt  his  own  powers  of 
decision  and  penetration.  When  Louis  retreated 
into  his  melancholy  retirement  when  the  labour 
of  the  day  was  over,  de  Noyers  followed  his 
Majesty  and  helped  him  to  carve  and  fit  together 
the  little  wooden  shrines  for  the  reception  of 
relics  which  it  was  the  King's  pastime  to  fashion. 
Louis  also  diverted  his  mind  by  playing  on  the 
guitar  ;  he  likewise  composed  an  air,  to  set  to  the 
words  of  the  flippant  song  written  by  M.  Miron, 
in  ironical  homage  of  the  deceased  Cardinal,,  and 
beginning  with  the  line — 

"  Ah  !  il  a  pass6,  il  a  pli6  bagage,  M.  le  Cardinal !  " 

De  Noyers  also  used  his  brief  influence  to  ruin 
Father  Sirmond,  confessor  to  the  King.  Sirmond 
had  insisted  on  the  arrest  and  execution  of  M. 
de  Cinq-Mars.  The  King  never  forgave  his 
counsels  nor  his  importunity,  and  subsequently 
the  royal  confessions  became  so  meagre  and 
Sirmond's  opportunities  for  admonition  so  brief, 


542  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1643 

that  he  found  himself  obliged  to  advise  with 
Richelieu  on  the  matter.  Louis,  therefore,  gladly 
sent  the  reverend  father  a  lettre  de  cachet,  dispen- 
sing with  his  future  services.  Le  Pere  Dinet, 
another  Jesuit,  succeeded  to  the  vacant  office,  in 
which  however  he  was  scarcely  installed  when 
the  death  of  the  King  occurred. 

The  King's  health  meantime  continued  grad- 
ually to  decline,  and  his  failing  strength,  which 
during  the  month  of  March  compelled  him  fre- 
quently to  keep  his  bed,  reassured  M.  de  Chavigny, 
who  aspired  to  the  post  of  first  minister.  Many 
matters  had  to  be  discussed  which  were  quite  out 
of  the  political  depth  of  M.  de  Noyers.  Louis, 
feeling  that  his  life  could  not  be  much  longer  pro- 
longed, decided  to  settle  the  important  question 
of  how  the  government  of  the  country  should  be 
conducted  during  the  minority  of  the  future  King. 
Chavigny  having  possessed  the  entire  confidence 
of  the  late  Cardinal,  the  King  commanded  his 
presence  at  St.  Germain.  The  nomination  of  a 
regent  occasioned  a  bitter  struggle  in  Louis' 
mind.  If  Monsieur  had  been  loyal  and  on  good 
terms  with  his  brother,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  high  office  would  have  been  assigned  to  him. 
A  Prince  however  who  had  three  times  rendered 
himself  amenable  to  the  penalties  of  treason,  and 
who  moreover  denied  the  legitimacy  of  the 
Dauphin,  could  not  be  safely  trusted  with  supreme 
power  during  the  minority.  Conde,  next  in 
succession  after  Monsieur,  was  a  prince  of  feeble 
health,  advanced  in  years  and  of  a  character  so 


1643]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  543 

peculiar  as  totally  to  unfit  him  for  the  office  ; 
besides,  Louis  knew  his  wife  well  enough  to  feel 
sure  that  she  would  form  a  coalition  with  Mon- 
sieur for  the  restoration  of  their  legitimate 
authority,  rather  than  submit  to  such  an  arrange- 
ment. Ancient  precedent,  public  opinion  and 
the  aspirations  of  the  feudal  nobles  of  the  realm — 
wrho  all  had  been  under  the  ban  of  Richelieu  and 
for  the  most  part  exiles  from  the  splendour  of  the 
court  during  the  reign  of  Louis — demanded  that 
Queen  Anne  might  be  declared  regent  of  the  realm 
during  the  minority  of  her  son.  The  Queen  had 
beauty,  fascinating  manners,  the  support  of  Spain, 
the  prestige  of  her  position  as  Queen-mother,  and 
last  though  not  least,  she  had  won  the  devotion  of 
Mazarin.  By  many  contemporaries  it  is  believed 
that  Richelieu,  appreciating  the  rare  gifts  of 
Mazarin,  had  specially  commended  the  Queen  to 
his  care,  and  had  besought  her  Majesty  to  place 
herself  unreservedly  under  his  guidance.  Anne 
moreover,  in  the  presence  of  the  King,  had 
ventured  to  assert  her  right  to  wield  the  sceptre  in 
the  name  of  her  son.  Louis  therefore  understood 
the  entreaties  of  Chavigny,  who  besought  him  "  to 
make  so  wise  and  prudent  a  disposition  of  the 
royal  power,  that  on  his  decease  the  kingdom 
might  not  be  plunged  into  a  bloody  war  either  by 
the  insinuations  of  Monsieur  respecting  the  birth 
of  the  future  king  or  by  the  feuds  of  rival  claim- 
ants for  power."  Mazarin  in  a  few  days  was 
summoned  to  St.  Germain,  and  it  was  at  length 
resolved  to  take  some  decided  step  to  stifle  the 


544  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1643 

pretensions  of  Monsieur.  The  project  of  the 
deceased  Cardinal  was  revived,  and  an  edict  was 
prepared  in  which  Louis  solemnly  declared  that 
the  Duke  of  Orleans  had  forfeited  all  claim  to  the 
regency  in  the  event  of  a  minority.  Mademoiselle, 
the  young  and  spirited  daughter  of  Monsieur,  hear- 
ing of  the  decree,  proposed  to  throw  herself  at  the 
feet  of  the  King  as  he  entered  the  Chamber  to 
implore  its  abrogation.  This  intention  coming  to 
the  ears  of  Louis  he  sternly  forbade  such  inter- 
cession. In  January  1643,  the  Declaration 
against  Monsieur  received  the  sanction  of  the 
Chambers,  on  the  express  and  personal  demand 
of  the  King,  who  repaired  to  the  Palais  in  person 
to  present  the  edict  to  his  faithful  commons.* 
Monsieur  made  no  public  protest  against  his 
exclusion  from  the  regency,  but  clamoured  to  be 
permitted  to  throw  himself  at  the  feet  of  the  King, 
whose  devoted  servant  he  should  ever  remain, 
being  now  delivered  from  the  thraldom  of  the 
hated  Richelieu.  The  Abbe  de  la  Riviere  arrived 
in  Paris  to  negotiate  his  master's  return  ;  the 
Duke  made  no  stipulations  but  submitted  entirely 
to  the  good  pleasure  of  the  King.  The  failing 
condition  of  the  King's  health  was  so  well  known 
that  no  one  now  opposed  the  royal  will ;  the 
sceptre  was  passing  from  the  hand  of  Louis — it 
was  for  his  successor  to  maintain  or  to  annul  any 
edict  given  during  these  his  last  hours. 

The  council,  meantime,  assembled  to  settle  the 
vexed  question  of  the  regency — a  matter  which 
admitted  of  no  delay,  for  the  health  of  the  King 


1643]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  545 

from  the  beginning  of  April,  1643,  began  to  fail 
alarmingly,  and  his  Majesty  was  able  only  to 
leave  his  bed-chamber  during  a  few  hours  of  the 
afternoon.  At  length  it  was  determined  to  name 
the  Queen  as  Regent,  and  the  Duke  of  Orleans 
Lieutenant- Governor  of  the  realm,  during  the 
minority.  Mazarin  addressed  the  council  at  length, 
and  his  observations  appeared  greatly  to  impress 
the  King.  Louis,  however,  could  not  be  per- 
suaded to  grant  to  the  Queen  unlimited  authority 
as  Regent,  and  the  restrictions  with  which  he 
fettered  her  authority  would  have  reduced  her 
power  to  a  mere  cipher.  "  You  do  not  know  the 
Queen !  You  deprecate  the  evils  which  arose 
during  the  regency  of  the  late  Queen,  Marie  de' 
Medici,  our  revered  mother  ;  would  you  there- 
fore behold  this  realm  reduced  to  worse  straits  ? 
The  Queen  needs  the  guidance  and  control  of  a 
council !  "  6  No  remonstrances  could  divert  Louis 
from  his  resolution  or  restrain  him  from  exacting 
the  most  stringent  and  binding  pledges  from  all 
the  great  functionaries  of  the  realm  to  maintain 
his  decree  intact.  The  edict  commences  with  a 
long  and  wordy  preamble,  setting  forth  the 
benefits  which  had  accrued  to  the  nation  during 
the  reign  of  the  King,  and  stating  the  love  and 
devotion  felt  by  Louis  for  his  people  and  the 
realm.  The  Queen  is  then  named  in  the  next 
clause,  "  as  Regent  of  France,"  and  intrusted  with 
the  education  of  her  children  and  with  the 
administration  of  the  realm  during  the  minority 
of  the  young  King.  "  We  have  good  hope  and 


546  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1643 

trust  that  the  virtue  and  piety  of  the  Queen,  our 
beloved  wife  and  consort,  will  render  her  ad- 
ministration prosperous.  Nevertheless  the  office 
of  Regent  is  a  trust  of  great  weight,  upon  the  due 
discharge  of  which  depends  the  welfare  and  glory 
of  the  kingdom,  and  as  it  is  impossible  that  the 
Queen  can  have  the  requisite  knowledge  to  con- 
duct the  course  of  great  and  important  events, 
which  is  acquired  only  by  long  experience,  we 
have  thought  good  to  name  a  Council  of  Regency, 
by  the  advice  of  which,  and  under  her  Majesty's 
authority,  state  affairs  shall  be  resolved  by  a 
plurality  of  votes.  We  cannot  make  a  more 
worthy  choice  of  persons  therefore,  to  compose 
this  Council,  than  to  nominate  our  very  dear  and 
beloved  cousins  the  Prince  de  Conde,  the  Cardinal 
de  Mazarin,  our  very  dear  and  trusty  the  Sieur 
Seguier,  Chancellor  of  France,  Lord  Keeper,  and  a 
Knight  of  our  Order,  and  our  very  dear  and  faith- 
ful Bouteillier,  secretary  of  finance,  and  de 
Chavigny,  secretary  of  state.  We  will  and 
command  that  our  very  dear  brother  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  shall  be  President  of  the  Council  of  Re- 
gency, and  in  his  absence  the  Prince  of  Conde, 
or  in  default  of  the  said  Conde  the  Cardinal 
Mazarin.  It  being  our  belief  that  we  cannot 
make  a  more  competent  choice  of  ministers,  we 
forbid  this  Council  to  be  changed,  diminished,  or 
increased  for  any  cause  or  pretence,  excepting  by 
the  death  of,  or  by  the  treason  of,  any  of  the 
above-mentioned  high  personages  ;  in  that  case 
the  place  may  be  filled  as  the  lady  Regent  shall 


1643]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  547 

decree  by  and  with  the  advice  of  the  said  Council. 

We  declare    that  it  is  our  will  that  all  affairs 

relating  to  peace   or  to  war  and  other  matters 

important  to  the  realm,  even  to  the  voting  and 

disposal  of  the  finances,  shall  be  laid  before  the 

Council    and    decided  by  a  majority  of  votes ; 

also  that  in  the  event  of  the  great  offices  of  the 

crown  becoming  vacant — those  of  superintendent 

of  finance,  first  president,  and  attorney-general  in 

our  Court  of  Parliament,  that  of  secretary  of  state, 

secretary  at  war,  governors  of  our  frontiers  and 

their  fortresses — they  shall  be  bestowed  by  the 

said  lady  Regent,  with  and  by  the  consent  and 

advice  of  the  said  Council ;    neither  shall  it  be 

considered  valid  or  legal  if  the  said  lady  Regent 

shall  give  such  charges  and  offices  without  the 

sanction  of  her  Council.     All   other  and  minor 

offices  of  the  government  are  to  be  bestowed  after 

such  participation  and  sanction  of   the  Council. 

As  for  the  gift  of  the  archbishoprics,  bishoprics, 

abbeys  and  benefices  generally,  appertaining  to 

the  crown,  they  shall  be  bestowed  only  on  godly 

and  eminent    personages  who  have  been  at  the 

least  three  years  in  holy  orders  ;    we  desire  and 

decree  that  the  said  Lady  and  Regent,  mother  of 

our  children,  shall  follow  the  example  which  we 

have  set  in  the  bestowal  of  these  dignities,  and 

that  she  shall  confer  them  by  the  advice  only  of 

our  cousin  the  Cardinal  de  Mazarin,  to  whom  we 

have  expressed  our  earnest  desire  that  God  may 

be  honoured  by  this  our  nomination.     The  said 

Cardinal  has  given  us  so  many  proofs  of  fidelity 


548  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1643 

and  intellect,  in  the  management  of  divers  im- 
portant matters  within  and  without  our  realm, 
that  we  believe,  after  ourselves,  we  cannot  con- 
fide the  execution  of  this  the  most  important  of 
our  functions  to  any  personage  who  will  more 
worthily  and  conscientiously  acquit  himself 
thereof." 6 

Such  was  the  paragraph  of  the  royal  decree  con- 
cerning Queen  Anne  and  her  functions  as  Regent 
of  France.  Power  could  not  have  been  more 
limited,  fettered,  or  reduced  to  mere  outward 
show.  The  Queen  could  not  confer  the  smallest 
office  in  the  realm  or  in  the  King's  state  house- 
hold without  the  previous  consent  and  approval 
of  the  Council  of  Regency.  She  might  decide 
neither  on  affairs  connected  with  war,  nor  assent 
to  a  pacification  without  the  Council.  She  had  no 
power  over  the  revenue,  nor  could  she  assign  the 
smallest  pecuniary  gratification  independent  of 
the  Council.  She  could  not  compel  the  registra- 
tion of  any  edict,  nominate  the  officers  of  the 
Royal  Guard,  or  visit  offenders  with  loss  of  pre- 
ferment or  degradation  without  the  intervention 
of  the  Council.  In  ecclesiastical  affairs  she  was 
made  subservient  to  Mazarin,  who  was  to  wield, 
almost  independently  of  the  Queen,  the  vast 
powers  and  resources  of  the  Gallican  Church.  The 
Queen  might  only  appoint,  without  previous 
appeal,  the  officers  of  her  own  household  and 
those  connected  with  the  nursery  establishment  of 
the  young  King  and  his  brother,  or,  as  his 
Majesty  advanced  in  years,  those  subordinate 


1643J  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  549 

posts  in  the  palace   not  already  attached  in  the 
special  gift  of  some  higher  officer  of  the  crown. 

The  paragraph  of  the  celebrated  edict  relating 
to  the  Duke  of  Orleans  was  drawn  in  the  following 
language  :  "To  testify  to  our  very  dear  brother 
the  Duke  of  Orleans  that  nothing  has  been 
capable  of  alienating  our  affection,  we  will  and 
decree  that  he  shall  be  Lieutenant-General  of  the 
young  King  in  all  the  provinces  of  the  realm,  to 
exercise  such  authority  under  the  Queen  Regent 
and  her  Council ;  and  this  notwithstanding  the 
Declaration  registered  by  our  Court  of  Parliament, 
which  declares  the  said  Duke  incapable  of  holding 
chief  office  in  the  administration  of  our  realm. 
We  trust  and  rely  upon  his  honour  that  he  will 
pay  implicit  obedience  to  our  will,  and  that  he 
will  from  henceforth  serve  the  realm  and  our 
children  with  the  fidelity  and  loving  kindness 
which  his  birth  and  the  many  bounties  and 
graces  which  we  have  conferred  exact.  Never- 
theless, we  declare  that  in  case  our  said  dear 
brother  objects,  or  rebels  against  the  ordinances 
contained  in  this  our  present  Declaration,  we  will 
that  he  be  held  deprived  of  the  office  of  Lieu- 
tenant-General  ;  and  we  expressly  forbid  all  or 
any  of  our  subjects  to  recognise  him  or  to  obey 
him  in  such  capacity." 7  Monsieur,  therefore,  re- 
ceived a  very  guarded  bequest  of  power  and  was 
to  be  controlled  in  the  exercise  of  his  high  military 
powers  by  the  decrees  of  the  Council,  which  in 
reality  meant  the  united  will  of  Conde  and  of 
Mazarin — as  these  personages  were  certain  to 


550  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1643 

exercise  despotic  authority  over  their  colleagues 
and  to  command  at  will  a  majority  of  votes. 

Nor  was  the  humiliation  of  the  Queen  yet  suffi- 
ciently palpable  and  her  power  as  Regent  neutra- 
lised. A  subsequent  clause  decreed  the  following 
against  Madame  la  Duchesse  de  Chevreuse,  who 
was  supposed  by  the  King,  as  by  the  greater 
part  of  the  courtiers,  to  be  her  Majesty's  bosom 
friend.  "  It  being  our  royal  will  and  duty  to 
prevent  troubles,  and  to  f  orestal  the  evil  designs  of 
such  of  our  subjects  who  might  desire  to  subvert 
these  our  arrangements,  made  for  the  welfare  and 
prosperity  of  our  kingdom,  we,  having  perfect 
knowledge  of  the  bad  conduct  of  the  Duchess  de 
Chevreuse  and  of  the  artifices  which  she  has 
employed  to  create  divisions  in  the  realm,  also 
being  aware  of  the  factious  and  treasonable  in- 
telligences which  she  still  entertains  with  our 
enemies,  we  hereby  interdict  her  return  to  the 
realm  during  the  continuance  of  warfare.  We 
will  moreover,  that  when  peace  shall  be  ratified, 
the  said  Duchess 8  shall  return  only  by  permission 
of  the  Queen  Regent  given  with  the  sanction  of 
the  Council.  If  such  permission  be  conceded,  we 
decree  that  the  royal  grace  shall  be  vouchsafed  on 
condition  only  that  the  said  Duchess  never 
approaches  the  court  nor  the  person  of  the  said 
Queen  and  Regent."  The  same  ban  likewise  was 
enforced  respecting  the  unfortunate  ex-Keeper  of 
the  Seals,  Chateauneuf,  who  was  not  to  receive 
alleviation  of  his  captivity  during  the  prevalence 
of  war,  and  afterwards  if  the  Queen  and  Council 


1643]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  551 

were  inclined  to  exercise  clemency  in  his  behalf 
he  was  never  to  appear  again  at  Court. 

The  edict  being  decided  upon  and  drawn  up 
with  suitable  explicitness,  Mazarin  advised  that 
its  terms  should  be  first  privately  communicated 
to  several  leading  members  of  the  Parliament  of 
Paris,  and  to  the  other  personages  concerned  in 
its  decrees,  offering  to  be  himself  the  medium  of 
such  communication.  The  decree  met  with  a 
favourable  reception  from  the  Parliament,  and 
it  was  evident  would  be  immediately  passed  and 
registered  on  its  formal  presentation  to  the 
Chamber.  Monsieur  made  no  objection — indeed 
his  name  appearing  at  all  in  the  edict  of  regency 
might  be  considered  an  act  of  signal  grace  and 
forbearance  which  he  owed  only  to  Mazarin. 
Many  uneasy  doubts  were  expressed  however 
on  the  reception  likely  to  be  given  to  the  document 
by  the  Queen — the  personage  most  concerned 
and  aggrieved  by  its  arbitrary  enactments.  Car- 
dinal Mazarin  however  undertook  to  present  the 
act  to  her  Majesty  and  to  explain  and  persuade 
her  into  acquiescence.  Unless  Anne  could  be  in- 
duced to  take  oath  to  observe  the  King's  will  the 
decree  would  become  null  and  void.  The  regency 
descended  to  her  by  right  and  by  precedent ;  she 
had  possession  of  the  person  of  the  young  King 
and  his  brother ;  she  commanded  the  allegiance 
of  that  formidable  party  in  the  realm — the  foes 
and  opponents  of  Richelieu's  policy  of  repression, 
who  were  all  ready  to  hail  the  Regent,  in  the  hope 
of  speedy  restoration  to  the  feudal  strongholds 


552  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1643 

and  provincial  commands,  which  in  preceding 
reigns  had  enabled  them  to  defy  the  power  of  the 
crown.  Mazarin  accordingly  sought  audience  of 
the  Queen,  and  his  persuasive  tongue  secured  her 
outward  submission  to  the  will  of  the  King. 
There  may  have  been  considerations  of  high 
prudence  on  the  part  of  Anne,  in  not  provoking 
a  contest,  of  which  posterity  is  not  cognizant- 
considerations,  if  a  particle  of  truth  is  to  be  sifted 
from  the  pamphlets,  private  letters  and  writings 
of  the  day,  potent  enough  not  only  to  strip  Anne 
of  Austria  of  her  most  ambitious  pretensions  but 
which  might  have  precipitated  her  from  the 
elevation  of  the  throne  into  the  everlasting  gloom 
and  seclusion  of  a  cloister.  If  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  the  son  of  Henri  Quatre,  had  been  on 
terms  with  the  King  his  brother,  and  if  he  had 
been  a  man  of  honour,  truth,  valour  and  capacity, 
the  last  weeks  of  the  unhappy  reign  of  Louis  XIII. 
might  have  transmitted  a  startling  record  on  the 
page  of  history.  Prudence  therefore  being  the 
better  part  of  valour,  Anne  agreed  to  make  sub- 
missive acceptance  of  the  terms  proposed  to  her. 
There  is  little  doubt  however  that  Mazarin  and 
the  Queen  then  concerted  together  the  design 
which  they  subsequently  brought  to  so  successful 
an  issue.9  Time  was  precious,  and  the  day 
following  therefore  Anne  entered  the  council 
chamber  to  take  the  required  oath  of  adhesion  to 
the  articles  of  the  edict  concerning  her  future 
regency,  and  to  affix  her  signature  to  the  docu- 
ment. The  Duke  of  Orleans  had  likewise  been 


1643]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  553 

summoned  to  St.  Germain  for  the  same  purpose. 
Did  the  memory  of  Anne  of  Austria  then  trans- 
port her  back  to  her  previous  summons  before 
the  council,  when  guilty  and  trembling  she  con- 
fronted the  King  and  his  stern  minister,  and  felt 
that  the  prestige  only  of  her  birth  had  prevented 
her  from  being  banished  from  France  in  disgrace 
and  ignominy  ?  She  stood  now  before  the  same 
monarch  in  the  ripe  maturity  of  her  charms,  still 
a  Queen,  the  mother  of  two  hopeful  sons,  the 
future  Regent  of  the  realm,  proud,  unconquered 
by  past  perils  and  vicissitudes  ;  her  great  enemy 
first  vanquished  and  then  removed  by  death,  and 
awaiting  the  commands  of  a  husband  who  hated 
but  who  still  tolerated  her,  and  whose  sceptre  was 
about  to  pass  from  his  dying  hand  into  her  own  ! 
Anne  felt  her  triumph.  Fate  had  hitherto  been 
adverse,  but  she  seemed  to  have  conquered 
destiny.  The  Queen  took  the  pen  humbly  pre- 
sented by  Mazarin,  affixed  her  signature  and 
took  oath  for  the  faithful  observance  of  articles 
which  she  had  deliberately  resolved  to  do  her 
utmost  in  concert  with  Mazarin  to  annul  so  soon 
as  life  had  left  the  King.  M.  d'Orleans  then  went 
through  the  same  formality — sincerely  on  his 
part,  as  the  provisions  of  the  edict  gave  him  an 
authority  which  for  the  time  satisfied  his  am- 
bition. When  the  act  had  received  due  authen- 
tication, and  the  signatures  "  Louis,"  "  Anne," 
"  Gaston,"  stood  below,  with  the  words  added, 
written  by  the  King's  own  hand — "  Ce  que  dessus 
est  ma  tres  expresse  et  dernier e  volante,  que  veux 


554  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1643 

etre  executee  "  —Anne  arose,  and  kneeling  at  the 
King's  footstool,  expressed  her  thanks  and  devo- 
tion. Louis  coldly  withdrew  his  hand,  which  the 
Queen  had  clasped,  and  rising,  turned  away 
without  uttering  a  syllable  in  reply.10  The  act 
was  then  countersigned  by  the  three  secretaries 
of  state  and  subsequently  presented  to  the 
Chambers  and  passed  unanimously. 

Louis  never  more  presided  at  the  council-board. 
The  greater  part  of  the  day  he  spent  reclining  in 
his  chaise  a  la  Romaine,  which  was  placed  at  the 
window  of  the  Cabinet  de  la  Reine  in  the  Chateau 
Neuf  de  St.  Germain,  and  from  which  an  en- 
chanting view  was  obtained  of  the  surrounding 
landscape  with  the  towers  of  St.  Denis  in  the  dis- 
tance. The  King's  observations  were  of  the  most 
depressing  kind  and  sometimes  very  embarrassing 
to  his  attendants.  "  Ah  !  "  said  his  Majesty  one 
day  to  Troisville,  pointing  towards  the  abbey, 
"  there  I  shall  soon  repose — a  long  repose.  My 
poor  body  I  fear  will  be  roughly  shaken  going 
thither — the  roads  are  in  bad  condition."  1X  An- 
other day  the  eyes  of  the  King  gloomily  surveyed 
the  train  of  nobles  which  followed  the  Queen  one 
afternoon  from  the  old  chateau,  from  which  her 
Majesty  by  the  express  desire  of  her  consort  had 
not  removed.  "  These  people  come  here  to  see 
whether  I  am  quickly  dying,  especially  M.  de 
Beaufort.18  Ha  !  if  only  I  could  recover  I  would 
make  them  all  pay  dearly  for  their  wish  to  see  me 
dead  I  "  It  is  a  remarkable  circumstance  that  the 
name  of  Mazarin  occurs  only  once  in  the  minute 
narrative  which  we  possess  of  the  last  lingering 


1643]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  555 

six  weeks  of  the  King's  life — a  time  when  death  to 
the  weary, [aching  heart  and  limbs  would  have  been 
a  priceless  boon.  Mazarin  even  was  absent  from 
the  death-chamber  of  the  King,  though  de  facto 
prime  minister  of  France  and  Cardinal  Nuncio. 
Once  and  once  only  he  appeared  in  the  halls  of 
St.  Germain  at  this  crisis,  and  that  was  at  the 
summons  of  Anne  of  Austria,  to  represent  the  Pope 
as  godfather  to  the  Dauphin.  The  last  day  upon 
which  Louis  was  able  to  resort  to  any  of  his 
favourite  occupations  was  on  the  1st  of  April 
1643.  His  Majesty  on  that  day  spent  several  hours 
in  colouring  caricatures.  From  that  period  to  the 
19th  day  of  the  same  month  he  was  carried  from 
his  bed  to  his  couch  for  a  few  hours  daily.  On 
Sunday  morning,  April  20th,  the  King  said  on 
waking,  to  his  first  valet  de  chambre,  "  I  do  not  feel 
very  ill  but  my  strength  declines.  I  prayed  to 
God  during  the  night  to  shorten  my  sufferings. 
I  cannot  rise.  M.  Bouvard,"  continued  Louis, 
addressing  one  of  his  physicians,  whose  turn  it  had 
been  to  watch  during  the  night,  "  M.  Bouvard,  I 
have  never  had  heart  concerning  my  malady.  I 
have  requested  that  you  will  admonish  me  when 
my  end  approaches.  I  am  dying,  I  know  well." 
On  the  same  afternoon  Louis  was  lifted  from  his 
bed  for  the  last  time  into  his  easy  chair,  by  the 
direction  of  Chicot,  first  physician  in  ordinary. 
The  King  fainted,  but  was  wheeled  to  his  favourite 
window,  where  M.  Chicot  read  to  him,  as  he  could 
bear  it,  passages  from  "  La  Vie  des  Saints,"  and 
the  17th  chapter  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  John. 
The  mind  of  the  King  seems  to  have  been  much 


556  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF 

agitated  at  intervals  by  painful  reminiscences  of 
some  of  the  events  of  his  reign,  and  he  was  heard 
to  deplore,  as  a  grave  dereliction  of  his  duty  to  his 
people,  that  he  had  suffered  the  royal  prerogative 
to  be  exercised  so  entirely  by  the  remorseless  hand 
of  Richelieu.  To  the  Prince  de  Conde  he  one  day 
expressed  bitter  regret  that  he  had  assented  to  the 
death  of  the  brave  and  gallant  Montmorency 
whose  ancestors  had  been  the  loyal  upholders  of 
the  crown.  The  King  acknowledged  that  he  had 
been  compelled  to  journey  to  Toulouse,  but  had 
always  intended  to  grant  life  to  M.  de  Mont- 
morency ;  he  had  however  finally  suffered  him- 
self to  be  over-persuaded  by  alleged  reasons  of 
state.  "  Remorse  has  always  haunted  me,  Mon- 
seigneur,  for  this  deed.  Ah  !  it  is  the  unhappy 
lot  of  rulers  to  hear  nothing  but  adverse  state- 
ments against  their  nearest  and  dearest  friends, 
relatives  and  subjects,  and  to  be  compelled  to 
act  upon  political  considerations.  Happy  is  the 
sovereign  who  has  strength  to  resist  such  in- 
sinuations ! "  The  death  of  M.  de  Cinq-Mars  was 
a  subject  so  agitating  to  the  unhappy  King  that 
any  allusion  to  it  was  cautiously  avoided. 

On  the  21st  of  April,  Louis  assembled  the 
principal  personages  of  the  court  around  his  bed 
for  the  last  time.  His  object  was  to  proclaim  the 
Queen  as  future  Regent  of  France,  but  bound  by 
the  limitations  imposed  by  the  Patent  of  Regency 
which  had  now  passed  the  Chamber,  Louis 
neglected  no  means  to  impress  his  will  in  this 
respect  on  the  nation,  and  to  make  solemn  declara- 


1643]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  557 

tion  of  such  in  the  most  public  and  formal  manner 
possible.  "  The  King  performed  this  action  with 
an  air  of  composure  and  satisfaction,"  relates 
Dubois,  a  valet  de  chambre  in  the  royal  service,  to 
whom  posterity  is  indebted  for  the  most  graphic 
and  minute  details  extant  of  the  last  days  of 
Louis  XIII.13  "  The  Queen  was  present,  also  M.  le 
Prince  de  Conde,  M.  le  Due  d'Orleans,  and  all  the 
greatest  lords  of  the  court ;  MM.  the  ministers 
wrere  likewise  present.  The  King  ordered  the  cur- 
tains of  his  bed  to  be  drawn  aside,  he  then  spoke 
in  a  low  voice  to  the  Queen,  to  M.  his  brother,  and 
to  M.  le  Prince.  His  Majesty  then  raising  his  voice 
addressed  the  assemblage  ;  he  next  commanded 
M.  de  la  Vrilliere,  secretary  of  state,  to  read  aloud 
the  edict  of  the  Queen's  future  regency  in  order 
that  everybody  should  hear  and  note  his  royal 
will.  M  de  la  Vrilliere,  much  moved  by  a  command 
which  seemed  to  indicate  his  Majesty's  approach- 
ing dissolution,  read  the  edict,  standing  at  the  foot 
of  the  King's  bed,  tears  falling  from  his  eyes  as  he 
proceeded.  The  Queen  also  sat  at  the  foot  of  the 
King's  bed  in  an  armchair,  which  I  had  the  honour 
to  bring  to  her  Maj  esty .  She  also  melted  into  tears, 
everybody  present  then  began  to  weep.  The  read- 
ing of  the  edict  over,  the  King  spoke  to  the 
Queen,14  to  M.  his  brother,  to  M.  le  Prince,  and 
then  to  the  deputies  sent  by  the  Chamber  to 
whom  he  made  many  moving  observations.  The 
King  looked  better,  his  face  was  flushed  with 
vivid  colour,  and  he  appeared  calm  and  in  no 
apprehension  of  death.  When  the  assemblage 


558  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1643 

dispersed  he  conferred  for  some  time  with  M.  de 
Meaux,  his  almoner,  and  with  his  confessor.  In 
the  evening,  some  pages  of  the  '  Vie  des  Saints  ' 
were  read  aloud  to  his  Majesty."  15  Probably  it 
was  after  this  formal  and  affecting  recognition  of 
herself  and  her  children  that  Anne  sent  Chavigny 
to  Louis  with  a  message,  "  assuring  the  King  that 
she  had  not  been  the  guilty  accomplice  of  M.  le 
Prince  de  Chalais,  but  had  always  been  his 
Majesty's  faithful  and  devoted  consort  and  now 
very  humbly  besought  his  pardon  for  any  mis- 
deed she  had  unknowingly  committed."  "  M.  de 
Chavigny,"  replied  the  King,  "  in  the  condition 
in  which  I  now  am  it  is  my  duty  to  forgive  the 
Queen,  but  I  am  not  bound  to  believe  her  state- 
ments. Carry  my  answer  to  her  Majesty." 16 
Louis,  therefore,  went  down  to  the  tomb  firmly 
persuaded  that  he  had  received  deep  and  vital 
injury  from  the  Queen  his  consort. 

On  the  following  day,  April  22nd,  the  public 
ceremony  of  the  baptism  of  the  Dauphin  was 
performed  in  the  chapel  of  the  old  palace  of  St. 
Germain  by  the  special  command  of  the  dying 
King.  The  child  at  his  birth  had  been  privately 
baptized  in  the  Queen's  chamber,  it  having  been 
resolved  to  defer  the  public  ceremonial  until  the 
conclusion  of  the  war.  Time  was  speeding,  and  it 
was  requisite  that  the  child  who  would  ere  long 
bear  the  appellation  of  Most  Christian  should  be 
publicly  received  into  the  bosom  of  Holy  Church. 
At  five  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  Wednesday, 
April  22nd,  the  court  assembled  in  the  great  saloon 


1643]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  559 

of  the  old  palace.  Mazarin,  Chavigny,  the  Bishops 
of  Beauvais  and  Meaux,  and  other  eminent  and 
favoured  persons  were  present.  Queen  Anne 
entered  the  presence  chamber  leading  her  son  by 
the  hand,  who  wore  a  robe  or  overcoat  of  cloth  of 
silver.17  The  procession  then  formed  for  the  chapel 
thus — the  young  Dauphin  walked,  preceded  by 
gentlemen  of  the  chamber  and  followed  by  his 
gouvernante  Madame  de  Lansac ;  the  Queen 
came  next,  attended  by  [the  Princess  de  Conde, 
the  Countess  de  Soissons  and  by  the  young 
and  lovely  bride  Anne  Genevieve  de  Bourbon, 
Duchess  de  Longueville.  Mazarin  followed, 
marching  alone,  as  the  representative  of  his  Holi- 
ness Urban  VIII.,  godfather  to  the  Dauphin. 
Most  chroniclers  however  erroneously  assert  that 
the  Cardinal  was  himself  the  sponsor,  and  that 
Louis,  to  secure  his  loyal  devotion  to  the  future 
child-King  by  a  stroke  of  policy,  had  so  honoured 
him.  On  approaching  the  altar  Anne  was  received 
by  Seguier  Bishop  of  Meaux,  and  by  six  other 
mitred  prelates.  The  Queen  knelt  at  her  prie-dieu 
and  the  little  Dauphin  fell  on  his  knees  on  the 
same  cushion.  The  Bishop  of  Meaux,  at  the  con- 
clusion of  the  anthem — which  was  "  a  motett  of 
ravishing  harmony  " — approached  her  Majesty. 
Anne  rose  and  presented  her  son.  Madame  de 
Lansac  then  lifted  the  little  Dauphin  on  to  the 
desk  of  the  Queen's  prie-dieu,  upon  which  a  rich 
cushion  had  been  placed.  The  Cardinal  de  Mazarin 
then  took  his  place  at  the  right  of  the  child,  and 
Madame  de  Conde  as  godmother  on  the  left,  the 


560  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1643 

Queen  holding  her  Dauphin  from  behind  by  his 
robe  to  prevent  him  from  falling.  "  M.  le  Dauphin 
looked  as  beautiful  and  as  innocent  as  an  angel, 
kneeling  with  folded  hands,  holding  his  eyes  wide 
open  but  showing  a  bashfulness  and  modesty  sur- 
prising for  a  child  of  his  tender  years."  Madame 
de  Conde,  on  being  asked  by  the  officiating  prelate 
the  appellation  of  Monseigneur,  named  him  Louis. 
At  the  ceremony  of  the  anointing,  the  Queen 
opened  the  vest  of  the  Dauphin,  and  declined  the 
services  of  Madame  de  Lansac.  When  Seguier 
asked,  "  Ludovici  dbrenuncias  Sathance,  pompis 
et  operibus  suis  ?  "  the  child  answered  without 
being  prompted  by  his  mother,  "  Abrenuncio." 
To  the  three  interrogatories  respecting  his  faith 
in  the  Divine  revelation  and  mysteries,  he  replied, 
"  Credo."  The  ceremony  concluded  by  the  choir 
intoning  "  Regina  Cceli  "  ;  the  procession  then 
formed  and  returned  to  the  palace.18  Dubois  says, 
"  M.  le  Dauphin  was  christened  in  the  old  chapel 
of  the  palace  at  St.  Germain  ;  all  passed  in  the 
presence  of  the  Queen  without  much  pomp,  on 
account  of  the  illness  of  the  King.  I  had  a  great 
desire  to  see  this  ceremony,  and  on  my  return  to 
the  King's  chamber  his  Majesty  asked  me  what 
had  passed,  and  I  had  the  honour  of  relating  to 
him  all  I  had  seen.  The  Queen,  M.  le  Cardinal,  and 
the  court  arrived  soon  afterwards  and  entertained 
the  King  with  an  account  of  the  good  behaviour  of 
M.  le  Dauphin."  Dubois  then  adds  a  note  at  the 
foot  of  his  page,  denying  a  story  current  in  his 
day,  to  wit,  "  that  M.  le  Dauphin  being  near  the 


1643]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  561 

bed  of  the  King,  his  Majesty  asked  him  his  name. 
'  Louis  XIV.,'  promptly  replied  the  young  Prince, 
to  which  the  King  is  said  to  have  replied,  '  Pas 
encore,  mons  fils,  pas  encore !  ' 

On  the  24th  a  great  panic  convulsed  the  court : 
the  unhappy  King  was  reported  to  be  sinking  fast. 
Dubois  again  chronicles  the  events  of  that  exciting 
day.  "  Everybody  looked  in  despair :  M.  de 
Souvre  commanded  me  to  send  and  tell  the 
Queen  that  she  must  come  immediately,  and  bring 
her  children  to  receive  the  dying  benediction  of 
the  King.  He  afterwards  ordered  me  to  be  in 
waiting  to  receive  her  Majesty,  and  to  ask  her  to 
enter  the  King's  chamber  by  the  small  closet. 
The  day  was  bitterly  cold  and  boisterous.  The 
Queen  arrived  ;  I  addressed  myself  to  Madame  de 
la  Flotte  and  gave  her  the  message  from  M.  de 
Souvre.  She  was  about  to  repeat  my  words  to  the 
Queen,  when  her  Majesty  interposed,  saying,  '  I 
heard  ! '  The  crowd  round  the  portal  of  the  palace 
was  prodigious  and  the  confusion  great.  A  lord 
present  therefore  took  M.  le  Dauphin,  and  another 
M.  d'Anjou,  and  went  through  the  crowd,  leaving 
the  Queen  alone  in  her  coach  with  Madame  de  la 
Flotte.  Her  Majesty  called  out,  'Is  there  no  per- 
sonage present  to  help  me  ?  Am  I  to  be  left 
thus  ?  '  Hearing  her  Majesty  call  and  not  daring 
to  offer  my  own  services,  I  plunged  amongst  the 
courtiers,  and  finding  M.  le  Due  d'Uzes,  one  of 
the  gentlemen  of  the  Queen's  household,  brought 
him  to  the  coach,  who  handed  her  Majesty  into 
the  palace.  The  Queen  went  straight  to  the  King's 

2N 


562  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1643 

bed,  and  throwing  herself  on  her  knees  by  the 
pillow  weeping,  talked  to  the  King  for  some  time 
in  private,  every  one  observing  that  the  manner 
of  his  Majesty  seemed  affectionate.  Madame  la 
Duchesse  de  Vendome,  meantime,  had  got  M. 
d'Anjou  in  her  arms,  who  was  crying  desperately 
because  his  nurse  had  been  left  behind.  The 
Duchess  called  me,  and  asked  me  to  pacify  the 
young  Prince  as  well  as  I  could.  I  carried  him 
therefore  into  the  King's  closet,  and  making  him 
sit  on  the  table,  I  told  him  that  the  King  had  a 
little  gold  horse  and  that  he  meant  to  give  it  to 
Monseigneur  le  Dauphin,  and  another  to  himself 
if  he  behaved  better  than  his  brother.  By  this 
stratagem  he  ceased  to  cry,  and  I  took  him  to 
Madame  de  Folaine,  his  nurse,  who  had  been  lost 
outside  in  the  throng."  Louis  presently  gave  his 
benediction  to  his  kneeling  wife  and  children.  The 
room  was  then  immediately  cleared,  as  the  King 
was  exhausted  by  the  tumult  and  for  want  of  air. 
"Ah,  Messieurs,  donnez  moi  la  vie,"  gasped  the 
poor  King,  making  signs  for  the  eager  crowd  to 
retreat  from  the  chamber  and  pointing  to  the 
closely  shut  windows.  The  end  however  was  not 
yet ;  the  King  rallied  again,  if  such  words  can  be 
applied  to  the  lethargic  stupor  into  which  he  sank. 
On  the  8th  of  May  Queen  Anne  left  the  old 
chateau  of  St.  Germain  to  occupy  a  room  separated 
only  by  a  small  octagon  chamber  from  the  King's 
apartment.  The  public  conduct  of  Anne  of  Austria 
at  this  crisis  of  her  life  had  been  blameless ;  no 
devoted  wife  could  have  been  more  punctual  in 


1643]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  563 

her  visits  to  the  sick  chamber,  and  it  was  known 
that  she  held  herself  ready  at  any  hour  of  the  day 
or  night  to  flit  between  the  two  chateaux,  if  her 
presence  should  be  deemed  desirable  or  neces- 
sary. Anne  never  left  the  palace  but  to  visit  the 
King  ;  she  granted  audiences  only  to  Mazarin  and 
Chavigny  and  the  Bishop  of  Beauvais  ;  she  held 
no  communication  with  her  exiled  friends — not 
even  with  Madame  de  Hautefort.  The  latter, 
anxious  to  be  with  the  Queen  on  the  very  day  of 
her  proclamation  as  Regent,  had  without  any 
communication  with  Anne  ventured  up  in  dis- 
guise to  Paris  accompanied  by  her  Majesty's 
devoted  servant,  La  Porte.  Madame  de  Haute- 
fort expected  on  her  arrival  in  the  capital  to  be 
greeted  with  the  welcome  news  of  the  death  of  the 
King,  instead  of  which  she  found  the  Parisians 
speculating  on  the  recovery  of  their  liege,  as  a 
more  favourable  bulletin  from  St.  Germain  had 
been  that  morning  posted  on  the  gateway  of  the 
Louvre.  The  pair  had  travelled  to  Paris  exulting 
in  their  future  favour  when  Anne  found  herself 
omnipotent,  for  how  could  her  Majesty,  they 
argued,  testify  in  too  marked  a  manner  her  grati- 
tude for  and  appreciation  of  past  services  such  as 
their  own  ?  The  duo  found  lodgings  with  con- 
siderable difficulty  in  a  furnished  house  near  the 
Hotel  de  Conde,  but  fearing  that  their  incognito 
might  be  betrayed  they  crept  out  of  Paris  at  early 
dawn  on  the  following  morning  and  retraced  their 
steps  towards  Blois.19  The  self-command  of  the 
Queen  was  admirable,  not  a  word  betrayed  her 


564  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1648 

sentiments  respecting  the  future  government  of 
the  realm  ;  not  a  murmur  her  appreciation  of  the 
severity  with  which  her  power  as  Regent  was 
limited.  To  the  Due  de  Beaufort  only  she  testified 
some  confidence  by  giving  him  a  private  command 
never  to  leave  the  young  Dauphin,  but  vigilantly 
to  watch  the  deportment  of  Madame  de  Lansac, 
whom  the  Queen  never  seems  to  have  taken  into 
favour. 

From  the  time  of  her  removal  to  the  Chateau 
Neuf,  Anne  shared  the  vigils  of  the  King's  atten- 
dants, sitting  for  hours  in  the  ruelle  of  the  bed,  a 
book  of  Hours  in  her  hand,  watching  the  change- 
ful expression  of  the  sufferer's  features  or  listen- 
ing with  bated  breath  to  his  delirious  wanderings. 
M.  de  Souvre,  the  Bishop  of  Meaux,  and  Dubois 
were  constantly  in  the  chamber,  as  was  also  Dinet, 
the  King's  confessor.  One  evening  Louis  suddenly 
woke  with  a  start,  and  said  to  Conde  who  was 
bending  over  the  pillow,  "  Ha  !  M.  le  Prince,  I 
have  been  dreaming  that  your  son  d'Enghien  had 
come  to  blows  with  our  enemies,  and  that  after  a 
very  hard-fought  and  obstinate  battle,  we  gained 
the  victory  and  drove  our  foes  from  the  battle- 
field." This  declaration  was  afterwards  considered 
as  a  prediction  made  by  the  King  of  the  great 
battle  of  Nordlinghen,  so  gloriously  won  at  the 
very  hour  of  Louis's  waking,  by  d'Enghien  on  the 
plain  upon  which  France  and  her  heretic  allies 
had  been  beaten  in  1634  by  the  united  armies  of 
Spain  and  the  Empire. 

On  Ascension  Day,  May  14th,  1643,  Louis  XIII. 


1643]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  565 

expired.  He  had  endured  his  long  and  weary 
sufferings  with  touching  resignation,  and  died  at 
length  a  death  of  painless  exhaustion.  His  con- 
fessor Dinet  soothed  his  last  moments,  aided  by 
the  Bishops  of  Meaux  and  de  Lisieux.  There  were 
present  in  the  death  chamber  the  Queen,  the  Due 
d' Orleans,  the  secretary  of  state  de  Chavigny,  the 
Marquis  de  Souvre,  Conde,  the  Chancellor  Seguier, 
Madame  de  Brassac,  the  Dues  de  Liancour  and  de 
Beaufort,  and  the  Bishops  of  Meaux  and  Lisieux, 
the  royal  almoners,  and  all  the  ecclesiastical  mem- 
bers of  the  royal  household.  In  an  adjoining 
chamber  were  many  principal  courtiers,  prin- 
cesses and  ladies,  and  the  First  President  of  the 
Parliament  of  Paris.  All  persons  present  wept  and 
prayed,  while  the  Bishop  of  Meaux  read  the  solemn 
prayers  of  the  Church  for  a  soul  departing.  Sud- 
denly the  King  opened  his  eyes  and  said  in  a  quick 
and  anxious  voice,  "  Dinet !  thoughts  arise  which 
trouble  me  !  "  "  Sire,  resist  them.  Fight  under 
the  glorious  banner  of  the  Redeemer  !  struggle 
for  victory !  You  are  now  in  the  thickest  of  the 
conflict,  we  will  all  aid  you  with  our  prayers  !  ' 
The  King  spoke  no  more  :  Dubois  supported  his 
head,  while  he  gently  sank  and  expired  at  a  quarter 
to  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  May  14th,  1643. 

The  Duke  of  Orleans  and  the  Prince  de  Conde 
then  approached  to  lead  the  Queen  from  the 
death-chamber.  She  arose  from  her  knees  weep- 
ing, and  suffered  the  Princes  to  conduct  her  back 
to  her  apartment. 

Anne  of  Austria  was  a  Widow. 


566  THE  MARRIED  LIFE  OF  [1643 


NOTES  TO  CHAPTER  TEN 

1  "  Le  roi  fit  hier  assez  mauvaise  chere  a  la  reine.    II  est  toujours  fort 
anime  centre  elle,  et  en  parle  a  tous  moments." — Archives  des  Affaires 
Fjtrangeres,  France,  t.  102. — Cousin,  Vie  de  Madame  Chevreuse. 

2  Bassompierre  did  not  long  survive  his  liberation.    He  died  suddenly, 
in  the  night  of  October  12th,  1646,  at  Provins,  and  was  found  dead  in 
his  bed. 

3  The  Count  de  Cramail  had  been  imprisoned  for  his  correspondence 
with  Madame  du  Fargis. 

4  Mem.  de  Mademoiselle,  t.  1. 

5  De  Reaux,  t.  3,  p.  80. 

6  Declaration  du  Roi  verifiee  en   Parlement,  le  21    Avril,   1643. — 
Registres  du  Parlement  de  Paris. 

7  Declaration  du  Roi,  &c.    Registres  du  Parlement  de  Paris. 

8  Louis  XIII.  commonly  alluded  to  Madame  de  Chevreuse  as  "  Le 
Diable." 

9  Anne,  however,  showed  outward  discontent  at  the  "  officious  pro- 
ceedings of  M.  de  Mazarin,"  and  said,  "  Que  tout  son  ennemi  que  fut 
Richelieu,  il  n'aurait  pas  pu  lui  faire  plus  de  mal  que  M.  de  Mazarin, 
qu'elle  accusait  d'avoir  determine  le  roi  a  ces  mesures."    Her  Majesty 
feigned  to  applaud  the  conduct  of  M.  de  Noyers,  who  finding  that  his 
presence  at  court  would  no  longer  be  tolerated  by  Chavigny  and 
Mazarin,  retired  to  his  country  house,  under  pretext  of  displeasure  at 
the  "  Act  to  restrain  the  powers  of  the  future  Queen-Regent." 

10  Tallemant,  t.  3.     Griffet,  Regne  de  Louis  XIII. 

11  Another  day,  calling  his  faithful   Du  Pontis  to  the  side  of  his 
chair,  Louis  raised  his  sleeve  and  showed  his  arm,  exclaiming,  "  Tiens 
Pontis,  regarde  ce  bras.    Voila  quels  sont  les  bras  du  roi  de  France." 
"  Je  vis  en  effet,"  relates  Pontis,  "  mais  avec  un  angoisse,  et  un  serre- 
ment  de  coeur  que  je  ne  puis  exprimer,  que  c'etait  comme  un  squelette, 
qui  avait  la  peau  collee  sur  les  os,  et  qui  etait  tout  couvert  de  grandes 
taches  blanches." — Mem.  du  Sieur  du  Pontis. 

12  The  party  of  the  Queen  bore  the  sobriquet  of  "  Importants."  M.  de 
Beaufort  was  recognised  as  their  chief. 

13  Memoire  Fidel  e  des  choses  qui  se  sont  passees  a  la  mort  de  Louis  XIII. , 
Roy  de  France  et  de  Navarre.    Fait  par  Dubois,  1'un  des  valets  de 
chambre  de  sa  Majeste,  le   14  Mai,   1643. — Curiosites  Historiques, 
Amsterdam,  1759,  in  8vo.   Also  Archives  Curieuses,  t.  5. 

14  Leti  states  (Teatro  Gallico),  without  citing  any  authority,  that  the 
words  of  the  King  were,  "  In  nome  del  Signore  cara  moglie,  e  cara 
fratello,  siate  ben  unite  insieme  nel  governo  del  Regno  e  del  Delfino 
mio  successore,  come  del  mio  fanciulletto,  il  principe  Filippo." 

16  Mem.  de  Dubois  des  choses  qui  se  sont  passees  a  la  mort  de  Louis  XIII. 
— Curiosites  Historiques. 


1643]  ANNE  OF  AUSTRIA  567 

16  Mem.  du  Due  de  la  Rochefoucault,  Petitot  vol.  51.   The  Duke  was 
always  a  devoted  adherent  of  the  Queen. 

17  Queen  Anne  wore  a  superb  robe  of  blue  velvet,  embossed  with  golden 
fleurs-de-lis.     On  her  head  was  a  diamond  tiara,  with  a  long  veil  of 
silver  tissue  attached. 

18  Godefroy :    Grand  Cerem.  de  France,  Bapteme  de  Monseigneur  le 
Dauphin,  a  present  Louis  XIV.,  t.  2. 

19  M6m.  de  La  Porte.     Petitot,  t.  59,  p.  394  et  seq. 


INDEX 


AIOCTILLOX,  Duchesa  d';  tee  Com- 
balet 

Aligre,  Chancellor  d',  104,  106-7 

Altamira,  Countess  of,  4,  6 

Ancre,  Marquis  d',  3,  4,  8,  21,  27,  29- 

33,  35,  41,  43 
Marquise  d',  35,  42 

Angouleme,  Due  d',  417-8 

Anjou,  Philip,  Due  d',  478,  561-2 

Anne  of  Austria,  her  parentage,  1  ; 
birth  and  early  years,  4-5 ;  be- 
trothal, 5-6 ;  marriage,  1-2,  12- 
20  ;  personal  appearance,  18  ;  first 
meddles  in  politics,  22-3  ;  home- 
sick, 24  ;  adopts  French  fashions, 
25  ;  flightiness,  26  ;  is  deprived  of 
her  Spanish  attendants,  46 ;  falls  ill, 
47 ;  jealous  of:  the  Duchess  de 
Luj-nes,  50-2  ;  has  a  fauase-couche, 
55-6  ;  early  dissensions  with  Marie 
de'  Medici,  59-61  ;  coquets  with 
the  Duke  of  Orleans,  61-2  ;  courted 
by  Richelieu,  66-71  ;  her  relations 
with  Buckingham,  69,  72,  74-90, 
145-6,  154-8,  166 ;  in  disgrace, 
95-6 ;  plots  against  Richelieu, 
100-4,  111-2;  falls  into  still 
deeper  disgrace,  115-6,  121-3; 
arraigned  before  the  Privy  Council, 
125-7 ;  her  punishment,  135-8 ; 
intrigues  against  France,  152-3, 
159-64,  170-1  ;  founds  a  convent, 
170-3  ;  first  meeting  with  Mazarin, 
180-1 ;  utters  threats  against 
Richelieu,  213-5 ;  refuses  to  go  to 
the  play  with  Louis,  216 ;  restric- 
tions on  her  liberty,  217  ;  Madame 
de  Fargis  removed  from  her  service, 
217-20 ;  stormy  interview  with 
Richelieu,  220-1  ;  imparts  State 
secrets  to  foreign  envoys,  223—4, 
288 ;  her  parting  interview  with 
Marie  de'  Medici,  223-7  ;  Marie  de 
Hautefort  appointed  her  maid  of 
honour,  237 ;  betrayed  by  hec 
friends,  251-2 ;  rejects  overtures 
from  Richelieu,  263-4  ;  frigid  rela- 
tions with  Louis,  264-5  ;  her  privy 
purse,  265 ;  popularity  with  the 


Parisians,  265 ;  her  power  of  in- 
spiring affection,  267,  275-6 ;  her 
untruthfulness,  276-7  ;  her  efforts 
to  save  the  life  of  Montmorency, 
281-4 ;  forbidden  to  correspond 
with  Madame  de  Chevreuse,  300  ; 
her  mode  of  clandestine  correspon- 
dence, 300-1  ;  hostility  towards 
Louise  de  la  Fayette,  313,  315, 
324—5 ;  correspondence  with  her 
brother  Ferdinand,  338,  345  ;  re- 
joices at  Spanish  victories  over 
France,  344-5 ;  foils  Richelieu's 
efforts  for  peace  with  Spam,  349- 
51,  354-6 ;  her  secret  messenger 
arrested,  357-62 ;  contemplates 
flight  to  Brussels,  363  ;  swears  her 
innocence  on  the  altar,  364—5  ;  con- 
fesses her  guilt  to  Richelieu,  367- 
72 ;  signs  a  written  confession, 
373-5 ;  fruitless  search  for  her 
private  papers,  377-80 ;  makes 
further  admissions  to  Richelieu, 
280-4  ;  examined  before  the  Chan- 
cellor, 386-7  ;  communicates  with 
La  Porte  in  the  Bastille,  387-94  ; 
the  King's  confessor  advocates  hec 
cause,  419 ;  obtains  a  relic  to  cure 
barrenness,  423-5  ;  reconciled  with 
Louis,  429-30  ;  Madame  de  Chev- 
reuse requests  her  to  repay  a  loan, 
431-2 ;  public  rejoicings  on  the 
announcement  of  her  pregnancy, 
436-8 ;  governess  appointed  for 
the  expected  heir,  438-41  ;  birth 
of  Louis  XIV.,  444-7 ;  rapid  re- 
covery from  confinement,  451-2 ; 
rumours  as  to  the  paternity  of  her 
son,  453-6 ;  Louis  dismisses  hen 
chief  ladies,  456-9 ;  becomes 
friendly  with  Richelieu,  459,  479  ; 
coldness  towards  Madame  de  Chev- 
reuse, 474-5,  506-8  ;  lives  in  seclu- 
sion, 477  ;  birth  of  her  second  son, 
478 ;  declines  to  join  a  conspiracy 
against  Richelieu,  493-4,  497; 
informs  on  the  conspirators,  497-9, 
503-8 ;  nominated  Regent,  542-9, 
551-2 


570 


INDEX 


Asturias,  Philip,  Prince  of  the,  1,  5 
Aubasine,  Abb6  d',  117,  125 
Audilly,  d',    a   Chamberlain   of   the 

Duke  of  Orleans,  118-9 
Auger,  of  the  English  Embassy,  352, 

364, 368,  373,  381, 397 

BACHELIER,  Jerome,  350-1,  368 
Barbin,    Steward    of    the     Quoen's 

household,  42-2 
Bassompierre,  Marshal  de,  28,  31,  48, 

53-4,  56,  154-6,  174,  181,  182,  185- 

6,  188-9,  201,  240,  539-40 
Beaufort,  Due  de,  564 
Bellegarde,  Due  de,  10,  52,  61,  125, 

131,  250,  282,  476,  490,  540 
Bellievre,  Huguenot  leader,  29 
Bentivoglio  (Papal  Nuncio),  51 
Berulle,  Cardinal  de,  148 
Binet,  Provincial  of  Jesuits,  422 
Biron,  Marshal  de,  104,  294,  296,  298 
Boccan,  70 
Bois  d'Annemets,  de,  98,    108,  117, 

125,  130 
Boispille,   Steward  to  de  Chevreuse, 

412,  431,  433,  474 
Boissiere,  Madame  de  la,  86 
Boiszenval,  Valet  de  Chambre  to  the 

King,  315-6 

Bordeaux,  11-12,  17,  19-21 
Bouillon,  Due  de,  3,  27-9,  487,  490-2, 

497,  502,  512,  515-7 
Duchess  de,  190,  215 
Boutillier,  Under -Secretary  of  State, 

212-3,  546 

Bouvard,  Physician  to  the  King,  555 
Brassac,  Comtesse  de,  458-9 
Breves,  de,  Governor  of  Gaston,  Duke 

of  Orleans,  97 
Breze,  Claire  de  Maille,  277-8,  479-80 

Marshal  de,  281-2 
Brienne,  Comte  de,  Memoires,  70-1 
Brissac,  Marshal  de,  11,  16 
Brulart,  the  Diplomatist,  333-4 
Buckingham,  Duke  of,  69,  72,  74-87, 
145,    150,   152,    154-9,    165-6, 
282-3 

Duchess  of,  85 
Burgos,  12-16 

CANDALE,  Comte  de,  120 

Carlisle,  Earl  of,  71 

Carre,  Pere,  310-1,  314,  319-22 

Casale,  Siege  of,  167-8,  174,  179,  192, 

197,  334 

Castro,  Pedro  de,  15 
Catherine  de'  Medici,  16,  48 


Caussin,   Pere,  311-4,   317-8,   322-4 

327-9,  356-7,  416-22 
Chalais,  Prince  de,  98,  101,  106,  108- 

12, 114-8, 120-1, 124-31,  133,  136-9 
Chanteloube,  Pere,  250,  314 
Chapelle,  Sieur  de  la,  9 
Charles  I.,  King  of  England,  71,  73, 

145-6,  150,  156,  164,  229,  436 
IX.,  King  of  France,  16 
Charost,  Captain  of  the  Guard,  500-2 
Chateauneuf,  Lord  Keeper,  162,  200- 

2,  218,220,235,  253,  281,289-300, 
550-1 

Chaulnes,  Due  de,  53,  79,  80-1,  85,  215 
Chavigny,  344,  346-8,  398,  419,  441- 

3,  454,  456-7,  496,  499-501,  504-7, 
524-6,  530,  538-9,  541-3,  546,  558 

Chemerault,  Mile,  de,  315,  360-1,  364, 
460,  462-3,  465-8,  540 

Chevreuse,  Duchess  de,  43-7,  50-2, 
54-6,  60,  68-74,  76-8,  81,  85,  88, 
90,  100-1,  103,  108,  112,  117,  121- 
2,  124-5,  127-31.  133-7,  144-5, 
148-51,  155,  159-62,  167,  178,  201- 
2,  218-9,  263,  266,  270-2,  289-99, 
301-3,  352-3,  369,  381-7,  405-15, 
430-6,  472-5,  498,  506-7,  540,  550 

Chicot,  Physician  to  the  King,  527-8, 
555 

Christina,  Queen  of  Sweden,  307 

Christine,  Princess  of  Piedmont,  42, 
50,  74 

Cinq-Mars,  Marquis  de,  311,  460-3, 
465-6, 475-8,  481-96,  499-505,  510- 
14,  556 

Coigneux,  de,  President,  98, 122,  130- 
1,250 

Combalet,  Madame  de,  Duchess 
d'Aiguillon,  63,  123,  174,  177,  189, 
191-2,  194,  196-8,  215,  217,  222, 
340,  361,  438,  479,  518,  526-8, 
539-1 

Concini,  see  Ancre,  Marquis  d' 

Conde,  Prince  de,  3,  22,  27-9,  57,  63, 
65,  99,  120,  134,  426,  504,  542- 
3,  546,  549,  556,  564 
Princess  de,  55,  57,   276-8,   281, 
285-6 

Conty,  Princess  de,  84,  178,  182,  192, 
197,  240 

Cordova,  Margarita  de,  15 
Don  Gonzales  de,  179 

Corsini,  Papal  Nuncio,  63 

Cotton,  Pere,  10 

Courtenvault,  de,  Attendant  on  Louis 
XIII.,  9 

Cousin,  Victor,  290,  386,  447,  505 


INDEX 


571 


Cramail,  Comte  de,  252,  540 
Crequi,   Marshal  de,   240,   252,  338, 

341-2 
Croft,  Sir  Herbert,  223-4,  251,  275, 

408,  415 

DAXSE,  Michel,  173,  215 
Denbigh,  Countess  of,  85 

Earl  of,  75 

Dinet,  Pere,  542,  564-5 
Dorat,  Abbe,  433-5 
Duhallier,  of  the  King's  Archers,  34 
Duplessis-Mornay,  Huguenot  leader, 
3-4,  29, 149 

EBOLY,  Prince  of,  1 
Elbceuf,  Duke  of,  120,  490 
Elizabeth,  Princess  of  the  Asturias,  1, 

6-7,  17-19 

Enghien,  Duke  of,  277,  479-80,  564 
Epernon,  Duke  of,  4,  117-8,  137,  240, 

247,  281-2 
Estrees,  Marshal  d',  233,  235 

FABGIS,   Madame  de,   146-8,   160-1, 
169,  171,  178,  183-4,  202,  204, 
210,  213-4,  216-21,  223,  237, 
251-3,  263,  273,  472,  540 
Monsieur  de,  147 
Felton,  John,  165-6 
Ferdinand  II.,  King  of  Spain,  161 
Ferdinand,  Infant,  338-9,  343,  345 
Fiacre,  Pere,  424-5 
Filandre,    Mdlle.    de,    Queen's  Tire- 
woman, 315,  414,  444-5 
Fleurance,  Preceptor  to  the  King,  10 
Flotte,   Madame  de  la,    148,    191-2, 
237,  270,  315,  384,  438,  440,  443, 
459-60,  463,  540,  561 
Fontrailles,  de,    conspirator,    490-1, 

497,  498-500,  506 
Force,  Marshal  de  la,  53,  341-2 

GERBIER,  Steward   to   the   Duke   of 
Buckingham,  75,  145,  368 

Gesvres,  Comte  de,  464-5 

Gonzague,  Marie  de,  154-5,  161,  176, 
477,  484-5,  496,  520 

Grammont,  Duke  of,  17 

Gregory  XV.,  Pope,  64 

Grotius,   Swedish   Ambassador,  363, 
523 

GuemenS,  Madame  de,  511 

Guise,  Duchess  of,  78,  133,  182 

Duke  of,  5,  11,  17,  18,  20,  27,  99, 
182,  540 

Guitaut,  Captain  of  the  Guard,  429 


Gustavus  Adolphus,  King  of  Sweden, 
193,  314,  333-i,  336-7 

HALLIER,  du,  Captain  of  the  Body- 
guard, 110, 116 

Halluin,  Duchess  de,  132 

Hamilton,  Marchioness  of,  85 
Marquis  of,  75 

Hautefort,  Marie  de,  148,  181,  191-2, 
231,  237-9,  267-76,  303-5,  313-28, 
359-61,  363^,  387-91,  405,  424-6, 
429,  438-43.  446-8,  459-60,  462-8, 
475,  540,  563 

Hauterive,  Marquis  d',  300 

Henri  IV.,  King  of  France,  1,  2-3, 
335 

Henrietta  Maria,  Queen  of  Charles  I. 
of  England,  42,  71-2,  74,  79-81, 
83-5,  87,  145-6,  154,  166,  229,  292, 
298,  354-5,  378,  431,  436,  510 

Herouard,  Jean,  8-11,  30 

Holland,  Earl  of,  294 

Huguenots,  3-4,  11,  21-2,  27,  29,  53, 
65,  72,  94,  109,  149-52,  156,  161, 
167,  174-5,  224,  335,  437,  458 

INFANTADO,  Duke  of,  16 
Isabel,  Queen  of  Philip  IV.  of  Spain, 
431 

JAMES  I.,  King  of  England,  69,  72 
Jars,  Chevalier  du,  88,  278,  294,  299- 

300,  388-92,  394-5 
Joinville,  Prince  de,  17 
Joseph,  Pere  ;  see  Tremblay 

LAFAYETTE,  Louise  de  la,  271,  304-10, 

312-28,  356-7,  417-8,  422-3,  428-9 
Lainez,  Marquis  de,  108,  113-4 
Lansac,    Madame    de,    439-40,    443, 

448,  451,  462,  478,  494,  504,  559, 

564 
La  Porte,  Equerry  to  theQueen,  82-3, 

85-9, 161-i,  173,  352,  357-64,  374- 

5,  384-99,  415-6,  563 
Launay,  Madame  de,  86-7 
Le   Gras,  Private   Secretary   to   the 

Queen,  365-6,  373,  380,  505 
Lerma,  Duke  of,  4,  12,  13 
Lescot,  Confessor  to   the    Duke    de 

Richelieu,  525-6,  528 
Lesdiguieres,  Duchess  of,  178,  182 

Duke  of,  29,  62,  79,  149 
Lindsay,  Earl  of,  166-7 
Loches,  48-9 

Longueville,  Duchess  of,  22,  28,  277 
Lorme,  Marion  de,  477-S 


572 


INDEX 


Lorraine,  Duke  of,  151-2,  164,  229, 
278-9,  342,  343,  349,  358,  374, 
381,  473-4 

Marguerite  of,  178,  278,  280,  293, 
339,  348-9,  444,  521 

Loudun,  Treaty  of,  2 

Louis  XIII.,  early  years,  7-11  ;  mar- 
riage, 11-20 ;  first  conjugal 
dissensions,  22-6  ;  seized  with 
epilepsy,  29-30  ;  instigates  the 
assassination  of  Concini,  31-4  ; 
banishes  his  mother  from 
Paris,  39-42  ;  his  recreations, 
47-8,  58,  176,  272-3,  541  ; 
becomes  reconciled  to  his 
mother,  49-50  ;  first  dawnings 
of  jealousy,  51-2,  61-2  ;  his 
anger  against  Luynes,  53-5  ; 
intrigues  against  Richelieu, 
63-4  ;  jealous  of  Buckingham, 
84,  87-8  ;  threatens  a  divorce, 
89;  weak  health,  97,  99; 
dissensions  with  his  brother, 
102-7 ;  plot  against  his  life, 
114-30,  133-9;  enters  La 
Rochelle,  167 ;  commands  a 
military  expedition  to  Italy, 
168  ;  heads  a  campaign  against 
the  Huguenots,  174-5  ;  heads 
an  expedition  against  the 
Spanish,  179-81  ;  dangerous 
illness,  181-2,  184-9;  rapid 
recovery,  190  ;  his  aversion  to 
State  business,  194-5 ;  be- 
comes reconciled  to  Richelieu, 
195-202  ;  censures  the  Spanish 
Ambassador,  211-2,  242-3  ; 
requests  his  mother  to  leave 
Paris,  227 ;  his  relations  with 
Marie  de  Hautefort,  237-9, 
267-70,  272-5, 302-4, 424, 426, 
438-9,  441-3, 447,  460-8,  475  ; 
forbearance  towards  his  mother 
241-5 ;  anger  at  her  flight, 
249-50  ;  his  bashfulness,  268- 
9  ;  his  remorse  for  the  death  of 
Montmorency,  285,  290,  400, 
538  ;  his  relations  with  Louise 
de  la  Fayette,  304-29,  356, 
416-7,  422,  428-9;  pays  his 
brother's  debts,  339-40;  his 
love  of  solitude,  341  ;  hears 
convincing  proof  of  Anne's 
treason,  373,  375 ;  pardons 
her,  375-6  ;  dictates  terms  to 
her,  413-15 ;  dismisses  her 
confessor,  416-22 ;  declaims 


against  his  family,  422  ;  recon- 
ciliation with  Anne,  429-30  ; 
letter  to  Urban  VIII.  on  the 
birth  of  the  Dauphin,  453 ; 
dismisses  the  Queen's  chief 
ladies,  456-9  ;  relations  with 
Cinq-Mars,  460-3,  475-8,  480- 
6,  488-9,  510-12  ;  dislikes  his 
eldest  son,  495 ;  has  Cinq- 
Mars  arrested,  499-502  ;  com- 
pelled by  Richelieu  to  dismiss 
Troisville,  522-5 ;  failing 
health,  538-9 ;  releases  a 
number  of  prisoners,  539-40  ; 
nominates  Anne  as  Regent, 
542-9  ;  last  days,  554-8,  561  ; 
death,  564-5 
XIV.,  446-7,  448-9,  451-5,  494- 

5,  520,  539,  558-62 
Louvigny,  Comte  de,  98,   106,   108, 

120,  124-6,  128,  139 
Lude,  Comte  de,  97-8 
Luxembourg,  Due  de,  53,  79 
Luynes  family,  see  also  Luxembourg 

and  Chaulnes,  8,  31-2 
Due  de,    13-5,  21-3,  25,  28-30, 
31-3,    35-6,    38-9,    43-6,    50, 
52-5,  57,  63,  97 

Duchess  de,  afterwards  de  Chev- 
reuse ;  see  Chevreuse 

MADEMOISELLE,  La  Grande,  272-3, 
277-8,  386,  400-1,  479-80,  544 

Malherbe,  Francois,  186-7 

Mantua,  151,  167,  179,  334 

Maqueda,  Duke  of,  16 

Marcheville,  de,  Attendant  on  Gaston 
of  Orleans',  98, 117-9 

Marguerite,  Infanta,  102 

Marie  de'  Medici  becomes  Regent,  3  ; 
her  iniudicknis  training  of  Louis, 
7-8  ;  her  first  meeting  with  Anne, 
19-20  ;  signs  the  Treaty  of  Loudun, 
21  ;  her  policy  opposed  by  Anne, 
22-3  ;  retires  to  the  Luxembourg, 
24 ;  her  undue  influence  over 
Louis,  25 ;  her  power  begins  to 
decline,  26-9  ;  tries  to  exile  Luynes, 
33  ;  imprisoned  in  her  apartments, 
35,  39 ;  banished  to  Blois,  40-2  ; 
flies  to  Loches,  48-9  ;  reconciled  to 
Louis,  50 ;  regains  power,  57  ; 
dissensions  with  Anne,  59-60  ; 
promotes  the  advancement  of 
Richelieu,  63-4 ;  sanctions  the 
marriage  of  Henrietta  to  Charles 
I.,  72 ;  accompanies  Henrietta  to 


INDEX 


573 


Amiens,  79-80,  83-4;  pleads  the 
cause  of  Anne  with  Louis,  88 ; 
intrigues  to  overthrow  Richelieu, 
100 ;  temporarily  reconciled  to 
Richelieu,  104 ;  present  at  the 
arraignment  of  Anne,  126-7 ;  ac- 
cused of  complicity,  129-30,  135  ; 
at  the  marriage  of  Gaston  d'Or- 
leans,  132-3 ;  presents  Mile,  de 
Hautefort  to  Louis,  148  ;  opposes 
the  re-marriage  of  Gaston,  154-5, 
218-9  ;  represents  the  King  in  his 
absence,  170,  174 ;  at  feud  with 
Richelieu,  176-8  ;  becomes  recon- 
ciled to  Anne,  178  ;  seeks  to  over- 
throw Richelieu,  181-6,  192-208; 
again  attempts  to  dislodge  Riche- 
lieu, 222-3 ;  her  mandate  dis- 
honoured by  the  Treasury,  224 ; 
supplies  funds  for  seditious  risings, 
225  ;  her  intrigues  discovered  by 
Louis,  226—7  ;  Richelieu  proposes 
to  arrest  her,  228-30  ;  her  conduct 
reprobated  by  Charles  I.,  230-1  ; 
Richelieu  begs  her  forgiveness,  232  ; 
she  is  arrested,  233-7  ;  detained  at 
Compiegne,  240-2,  245-8  ;  escapes 
to  Mons,  248—50 ;  rising  on  her 
behalf,  278-80  ;  retires  to  Spa,  338- 
9 ;  corresponds  with  the  King's 
confessor,  417  ;  appeals  to  Louis 
for  pardon,  417  ;  death,  508-10 

Mayenne,  Due  de,  2,  5,  6,  27,  29 

Mazarin,  Cardinal,  180-1,  498-500, 
516-7,  521-2,  524,  526-7,  538-9, 
541,  543,  545,  551-5,  559-60 

Milly,  Luisa  de,  171-3,  212,  251,  370- 
1,  377-SO,  382,  415 

Mirabel,  Marquis  de,  90,  100,  119, 
168-70,  183,  203,  212-6,  218,  220, 
223,  242-3,  264,  288,  368,  381, 
383 

Montagu,  Walter,  155,  159-64,  217, 
275,  294,  381-2 

Montague,  Lord,  145-6 

Montauban,  53-4,  175 

Montbazon,  Due  de,  43-4,  50,  385, 
432-3,  442 

Monteleone,  Marquis  of,  16,  24-6,  32, 
46-7 

Montglat,  de,  Attendant  on  Louis 
XIIL,  9 

Muntmorency,  Duchess  de,  46-7, 56-7 
Due  de,  3,  52,  61,  278-87,  556 

Montpensier,  Marie  de,  afterwards 
Duchess  of  Orleans  ;  see  Orleans 

Moret,  Cornte  de,  247,  250 


Motteville,  Madame  de,  Mtmoirea,  67, 
76-8,  83^,  86-7,  171-2,  234-5,  237, 
274-5,  308-9,  386-7,  447,  495,  538 

NAVAS,  Spanish  charge,  d'affaires,  288 
Nevere,  Due  de,  3,  151,  167,  192 

Duchess  de,  11,  17-18 
Nogent,  de,  Gentleman  of  the  Cham- 
ber to  the  Queen,  203-4 
Noirmoutier,  Marquis  de,  468 
Noyers,  de,   Under-Secretary  to  the 
King,  176,  312-3,  326,  382-3,  421, 
423,  500-1,  504,  521,  524-5,  530, 
540-2 

OLIVABEZ,  Count  of,  16,  152,  349-50, 
490-1 

Orange,  Prince  of,  515-6 

Orleans,  Gaston,  Duke  of,  29,  31,  41, 
57-9,  66,  84,  96-109,  111-2, 
115-24,  127-39,  158,  162,  174, 
176,  202-5,  218-20,  222, 224-5, 
243,  246,  250,  278-85,  287, 
337,  339-40,  347-8,  486,  488, 
490-3,  496-7,  502,  506,  520-1, 
539,  544,  545-6,  549-53,  565 
Marie  de  Montpensier,  Duchess 
of,  61-2,  98-9,  101,  103,  119, 
121,  130,  163-4 

Ornano,  Marshal  d',  97-8,  101-7,  121, 
131,  240 

Osorio,  Luisa  de,  15 

PASTRANA,  Duke  of,  1,  6-7 
Patrocle,  Valet  de  Chambre  to  the 

Queen  of  Spain,  395,  398 
Perrans,  of  the  King's  Archers,  34 
Philip  II.  of  Spain,  1 

III.  of  Spain,  1,  4-6,  12-3 

IV.  of  Spain,  115,  150,  152,  276, 
345,  350-1,  490-1,  493,  497 

Piedmont.  Prince  of,  50 
Polignac,  Mile,  de,  317,  459 
Putange,  de,  Equerry  in  Waiting  to 

the  Queen,  81-3,  88 
Puylaurens,  de,  98,  105,  108,  125,  130 

RE,  Ee  de,  150,  152,  157-S 

Retz,  Cardinal  de,  48,  62 

Ribera,  Physician  to  the  Queen,  88 

Ribeyra,  Francisco  de,  15 

Richlieu,  Cardinal  Due  de,  in  the 
service  of  Marie  de'  Medici,  34, 
40,  42 ;  his  merits  recognised 
by  Luynes,  55  ;  admitted  to  the 
Privy  Council,  63  ;  created  Car- 
dinal, 64 ;  commencement  of  his 


574 


INDEX 


rule,  64-6 ;  courts  Anne,  66-8 ; 
becomes  suspicious  of  Buckingham, 
78  ;  his  system  of  espionage,  84, 
170,  191,  214-6,  263,  310-1,  314-6, 
352,  440,  472 ;  wrests  concessions 
from  the  Huguenots,  94  ;  Marie  de' 
Medici  seeks  to  overthrow  him, 
100,  176-8,  181-5;  has  Marshal 
d'Ornano  arrested,  104-6  ;  offers  to 
resign,  107 ;  plot  to  assassinate 
him,  108,  111  ;  his  successful 
counterplot,  112-30,  133-9;  his 
measures  against  the  Huguenots, 
149-50  ;  conducts  the  siege  of  La 
Rochelle,  164-7 ;  at  loggerheads 
with  the  Spanish  Ambassador,  168- 
9  ;  public  prayers  for  his  downfall, 
173 ;  presents  Mazarin  to  Anne, 
180-1  ;  the  King  promises  to  dis- 
miss him,  185-9 ;  prepared  for 
flight,  190 ;  regains  the  royal 
favour,  190-202  ;  prohibits  private 
interviews  between  Anne  and  the 
Spanish  Ambassador,  211-4  ;  seizes 
seditious  letters  addressed  to  Anne, 
218-9  ;  twits  her  on  their  contents, 
220-1  ;  insulted  by  Gaston  d'Or- 
leans,  224-6 ;  avenges  himself  on 
Bassompierre,  240 ;  connives  at 
the  escape  of  Marie  de'  Medici,  246- 
9  ;  outlaws  the  followers  of  Gaston, 
250-1 ;  has  Marillac  beheaded, 
253^4  ;  feigns  dismay  at  Marie's 
escape,  254—6 ;  dictates  his  con- 
ditions to  Louis,  256-8  ;  his  admi- 
ration for  Madame  de  Chevreuse, 
266  ;  braved  by  Marie  de  Haute  - 
fort,  267  ;  marries  his  niece  to  the 
Due  d'Enghien,  277,  479-80 ;  has 
the  first  doll's  house  ever  seen  in 
France  constructed,  278  ;  fooled  by 
Madame  de  Chevreuse,  290-9  ;  has 
her  arrested  and  banished,  299, 
302—3 ;  takes  steps  to  remove 
Louise  de  la  Fayette  from  Court, 
309-22;  his  relations  with  the 
King's  confessors,  327-9  ;  promotes 
an  alliance  with  Sweden,  333-7  ; 
afraid  to  show  himself  in  public, 
344  ;  presents  the  Palais  Royal  to 
Louis,  346  ;  discovers  a  plot  on  his 
life,  348 ;  has  Madame  de  Chev- 
reuse watched,  352-4 ;  accuses 
Anne  of  treason  before  the  Council, 
354-6 ;  hears  Anne  confess  her 
guilt,  367-72 ;  extracts  further 
admissions  from  her,  380-4 ;  con- 


fers privately  with  La  Porte,  398- 
9 ;  sends  a  bribe  to  Madame  de 
Chevreuse,  406 ;  is  in  danger  of 
dismissal,  416-9  ;  his  anxiety  for 
the  birth  of  a  Dauphin,  426-7 ; 
offers  a  conditional  pardon  to 
Madame  de  Chevreuse,  432-6 ; 
departs  for  the  seat  of  war  in  Pi- 
cardy,  441  ;  his  letters  on  the  birth 
of  Louis  XIV.,  450-1  ;  high  in  the 
graces  of  both  King  and  Queen,  459  ; 
introduces  Cinq-Mars  to  Louis,  461- 
2 ;  his  health  languishes,  480 ; 
harassed  by  disputes  between  Louis 
and  Cinq-Mars,  482 ;  Cinq-Mars 
becomes  his  enemy,  484-6  ;  fresh 
conspiracy  to  overthrow  him,  486- 
9,  495-6  ;  Anne  discloses  the  plot 
to  him,  497-9  ;  his  vengeance,  510- 
5 ;  increasing  pretentious,  520, 
522-3  ;  Mazarin  becomes  his  con- 
fidential adviser,  521-2 ;  falls 
seriously  ill,  525-9 ;  death,  530  ; 
his  will,  531-2 

Riviere,  Abbe  de  la,  98,  502-3,  544 
Rochefort,  Comte  de,  113^,  119,  126 
Rochefoucauld,  Due  de  la,  363,  408, 

412 

Rochelle,  La,  149-52,  156-52,  164-7 
Rohan,  Due  de,  29,  150,  152,  174,  250 
Duchess  de,  132 

Marie    de,    afterwards     Duchess 
de    Luynes,  and   subsequently 
de  Chevreuse,  see  Chevreuse 
Rubens,  Peter  Paul,  59 

SABLE,  Marquise  de,  60-1,  78-9,  287 

St.  Georges,  Madame  de,  145 

St.  Gery,  108,  125 

St.  Paul,  Comtesse  de,  146 

St.  Simon,  Due  de,  186-7,  195,  198-9, 

304,  315,  326 
St.  Surin,  158 
Saumur,  120 
Savoy,  Duke  of,  151-2 
Scarron,  Paul,  475 
Schomberg,  Marshal  de,  156,  158,  181, 

220,  248,  280 
Segueran,  Pere,  88-9 
Seguier,  Pierre  de,  355,  371-2,  375-6, 

385-7,  395-8,  445,  511-3,  546 
Senec6,  Marquise  de,  221,  231,  234- 

7,  264,  305,  318-9,  324,  375,  414, 

440,  446,  456-8,  475,  540 
Sessa,  Duke  of,  16,  18-9 
Sforza,  Cardinal,  453 
Sillery,  Chancellor  de,  63 


INDEX 


575 


Sirmond,  Abbe,  500,  541-2 
Soissons,  Comte  de,  29,  99,  107-8,  '.12, 

119,  124,  134,  137,  178,  223,  344, 

347-8 

Soubise,  155 

Souffran,  Pere,  181,  185,  187-9,  228 
Sully,  Maximilian  de,  3,  4,  29 

TALLEMANT  des  Reaux,   Historiettes, 

286,  298,  302,  303-i,  458-9,  504 
Termes,    de,    Attendant    on    Louis 

XIII.,  9 

Themines,  Marshal  de,  27-8 
Thou,  de,  Fra^ois,   487,  490,  493, 

498-9,  502,  506,  510-4 
Toiras,  de,  Jean,  157-8 
Torres,  Countess  de  las,  15,   18,  20, 

24-5,  46 

Tremblay,  Joseph  de,  63,  113,  122-3, 
125-6,  129-31,  165,  192,  195, 
246-7,  256,  287,  305,  333-4, 
344,  346,  349-50,  352-3,  371, 
436,  458,  521 

Governor  of  the  Bastille,  389,  395 
Tresmes,  Captain  of  the  Guard,  494-5 
Troisville,  de,  Lieutenant  of  Mous- 

quetaires,  522-5,  529,  554 
Tuscany,  Grand  Duke  of,  4 

URBAN  VIII.,  Pope,  453,  559 


Uzeda,  Duke  of,  5,  16,  18-9 
Uzes,  Due  d',  561 

VAIR,  Du,  Keeper  of  the  Seals,  29-30 
Val  de  Grace,  171-3,  212-7,  223,  300- 

1,  352,  356,  370-2,  378,  416 
Valencey,  de,  109-11 
Valette,  Cardinal  de  la,  215-7,  338, 

341   346 

Due  de  la,  98,  108,  118,  124,  490 
Valois,  Elizabeth  de,  16 
Vardes,  Marquis  de,  247-9 
Vaultier,  Physican  to  the  Queen,  173, 

203,  210,  253,  540 
Vendome,  Due  de,  27,  29-30,  98,  107- 

8,  112,  116,  121,  129,  134,  294, 

490,  540 
Philippe,    Chevalier    de,    Grand 

Prior,  98,  107-8,  112,  116,  121, 

129 

Vernet,  Madame  du,  81-2,  88 
Verneuil,  Mile,  de,  56 
Vieuville,  Marquis  de,  62-3 
Villarceaux,  Madame  de,  388-90 
Villequieras,  Duchess  of,  41 
Villeroy,  Secretary  of  State,  4, 29 
Vitry,  Marshal  de,  32,  33-5,  540 
Voiture,  Vincent,  504 
Vrilliere,  de  la,  Secretary   of   State, 
557 


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